


blade of fire, shield of ice

by DragonsAndCryptids



Series: fire and ice [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Blood and Injury, Dialogue Heavy, Dragons, F/M, Feral Behavior, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda?, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Other, Slow Burn, i mean not for my standards but probably for everyone else, setting and plot wise, this whole thing has httyd vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:49:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26492203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsAndCryptids/pseuds/DragonsAndCryptids
Summary: Erza has lived her whole life on the island of Magnolia. Growing. Working. Hiding her magic... She's settled into an, albeit boring, routine.But when the people she works for capture a dragon hyrbid, she knows she can't just do nothing and allow them to sell him to be treated like some kind of animal. Despite her friends' protests, she knows she has to help.However, it's going to take a lot to get this dragon to trust her, but she'll do whatever it takes to save him, no matter the consequences.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster/Erza Scarlet, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Natsu Dragneel/Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster/Erza Scarlet
Series: fire and ice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148675
Comments: 53
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing with this idea for a while now, and I'm excited to finally start it! I don't have a lot to say about it atm, and this introductory chapter really serves to get a base for the tiniest bit of the world building and relationships, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Thick, heavy fog rolled in from the sea. For the fifth time that morning, Erza wiped the condensation collecting on her blade, a tired sigh escaping her. It was going to be a slow day. A slow, cold, wet day. She hated when the fog got like this. Already, her hair was sticking to the back of her neck, her clothes damp, which only made her colder. Shivers wracked her body, and she regretted not dressing in thicker clothing, but it had been warmer the past few days. The waves were restless today, too, causing the ship to rock more than normal. She wondered if there was a storm out at sea causing the sudden cold front and strange weather. Even the sea air didn’t smell as welcoming, as hopeful, leaving her wanting for things she would never have. It was just as heavy as the fog, leaving her uneasy. 

“Back to work, Scarlet!” someone barked, she didn’t care enough to look and see who. 

Erza bit back a hiss, but got back to her feet, switching her sword to her other hand, and stomped down to the lower decks of the ship to check the stock. Gods, she hated this job. When she’d originally taken it four years ago, she thought it would result in adventure, a way off this island, but all she was allowed to do was keep track of the inventory, and keep bandits and thieves at bay. She was nothing but an over glorified guard dog, but it wasn’t like she had the option to back out of this job anymore… 

Although she could admit that something was different today. The merchants were a bit livelier, excited about something. She wondered what they had found to sell. It must be something worth a lot. They hadn’t gotten excited about  _ anything _ in months, not even when they had discovered that ancient dragon hoard just off the island’s eastern coast a couple weeks ago. 

Out here on the fringes, there were all kinds of interesting things, supposedly. Relics from when magical creatures had been abundant, that could be sold for a lot of money to the right people. Personally, Erza was never too impressed with what they found. But then again, she had grown up on this island, and had… a stronger connection than most to the old world, so she supposed she couldn’t judge those who had never even come close to grasping the past. 

She wished Jellal were working today, too. At least then she’d have someone to speculate with, rather than letting her thoughts chase themselves in circles. 

She finished checking through the inventory, counting boxes of precious metals and gems, ancient weapons, supposed dragon scales and feathers, and then more basic goods from the island, purchased from the people who actually lived here, rather than found by scouring the forests and caves. 

She tramped back up the stairs, just in time to watch the merchants lugging a large, sheet-covered crate onto the ship. “What’s that?” she asked. She’d never seen them cover anything up like that before. 

Of course, she was ignored. Why would they ever answer a dog like her? Sometimes they answered Jellal, but never her. So she crept forward, fully intending to look beneath the sheet, but her path was blocked.

“The hell do you think you’re doing, Scarlet?” one of the merchants asked, grabbing her wrist and digging her nails into the fabric of her sleeves. 

“I want to see,” she said. “What is that?” They had never  _ not _ let her see the things they had. What was different about this time? She leaned over, peering around the woman, but whatever it was, was still covered. 

“None of your damn business,” she said, before narrowing her eyes. “Actually, you can go home for the day.” She let go of Erza. “Go on.” 

Erza had half a mind to argue, because  _ something _ was going on. Since when had they  _ ever _ let her leave like this? But it was likely fighting back would bite her in the ass. The consequences weren’t worth her curiosity. 

“Okay…” It really wasn’t a big deal. After all, the merchants weren’t heading back to the bigger islands to sell and trade for at least another three weeks. She’d definitely get to see whatever this was at some point before they left. 

So she sheathed her sword, and stalked past the merchants and the crate. 

Although… As she walked past… 

She swore she heard something moving inside of it. 

* * *

Wood thunked as Erza swung her feet, letting her boots smack against the building she sat on top of. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t put that strange crate out of her mind. Since when had those merchants ever let her leave  _ early?  _ Well… not since they learned the truth about her, anyways. So if they had found something more entertaining than they found their absolute control over her… 

It must be  _ extremely _ fascinating, whatever it may be. 

“Erza.” Gray reached over to poke her shoulder. “The hell is your problem? You’ve been staring off into space for like ten minutes now.” 

She shook her head. “Sorry, were you saying something?” 

He scoffed and crossed his arms. “Nothing important to you, evidently.” 

“Gray…” She leaned over to pat his cheek, causing him to growl and squirm away. “It was just a weird day. What happened?” 

“Cana got into trouble again today…” he said, his voice sullen. 

“Oh.” Erza frowned, ceasing to kick her legs, giving Gray her full attention. She knew how close he was with Cana, how worried he got over her. No wonder he seemed off and upset today. “Was she—” 

He shook his head. “She wasn’t actually caught. She just… ended up trying to scam the wrong person.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Mira bailed her out before anything too bad happened, but it was too close for comfort.” 

Erza picked at the fur lining her coat. While she had technically lived with Cana for a long time, several years, she still wasn’t as close with her or knew how she operated as well as Gray did. “Should I try and convince her to move back in with me and Makarov?” 

“Nah. Not like she would listen,” he said.

Erza supposed that was true. They had all warned Cana not to try and live on her own, it was okay that she needed the help, but she was stubborn. She was  _ convinced _ she could make it on her own, even if that meant putting her life on the line with these scams and hustles. “What about Mira? Think we could convince her to move in with her and Elfman and Lisanna?” 

Gray shrugged. “Might be worth a shot. I don’t know if she will though, ‘cause uh…” He awkwardly cleared his throat. “Her um— You know her thing for—” 

“For Mira?” Erza smiled. “You don’t have to spare my feelings, Gray. Mira and I haven’t dated for over a year now, and we’re perfectly civil. It was a mutual breakup. We just… had too much to deal with. I’d be happy for her and Cana, I think they’d be good for each other.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Gray rubbed his wrist, and turned his attention back to the street below. Despite the chill setting in, the winter weather arriving far too early for anyone’s liking, the vendor stands were as busy as always. But then… they always were, even when snow blanketed the town. 

“What about you?” It’d been a while since she’d actually gotten time to spend with Gray, thanks to her job, and Gray’s even more hectic schedule. He may not be running scams like Cana, but he was still treading a dangerous line with his siblings. “Anything interesting happen in the past week?” 

“No, not really.” He bit at his lip, and shot her a wary glance. “Ultear and Lyon have… they think they’ve found a good job.” 

“Gray!” Erza protested. 

“Look, it’s not like we have a lot of options, Erz!” he argued. “And we need the money for… We just need it.” 

“I’ve  _ told _ you I would help!” she told him. She’d told him that over and over. Not only would she gladly offer him some of her pay, but she knew that Makarov would help him out. Ultear and Lyon, too. Actually, they’d been trying to help all three of them for  _ years, _ but they  _ always _ refused the help. 

“That’s not on you,” he said. “And we’ve been doing just fine.” 

“Where did you sleep last night?” she asked. 

“That’s not important.” 

“You’re still in that alley, aren’t you? It’s getting too cold for that.” As used to the cold as the three of them were, it was still too much. She was waiting for the awful day when she couldn’t find Gray, only to discover him dead of hypothermia or frostbite or something along those lines. 

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “We always do.” 

“But I’m telling you you don’t  _ have _ to!” She didn’t know why she was still trying. Gray had been refusing help for eight years now, and he wasn’t about to change. 

Gray sniffed. “What about you, huh? You actually told anyone but me why you can’t quit that awful job?” 

“I—” She snapped her mouth shut. “You know I can’t tell anyone. And Jellal knows.” 

“Jellal knows because it’s  _ his _ fault,” Gray snarled. 

“He apologized, and… he really didn’t mean for that to happen,” she attempted. 

“Whatever. It’s still on him.” Then he gave her a look. “And I’ll tell you what. I’ll accept yours and Gramps’s ‘help’ the same time you ‘fess up to him that  _ you _ got caught doing magic and that’s why you can’t quit!” 

Erza hunched her shoulders. “It’ll break his heart to know how they treat me… He already has so much to deal with.” 

Gray nodded. “And that’s why I don’t want to lump myself into the rest of his problems. Now please, let’s not do this today.” He leaned back, resting his weight on the palms of his hands. “I’m really not in the mood.” 

“Yeah, okay.” He was right. She didn’t want to spend the little bit of free time they got together fighting. “Hey, this weird thing happened at work today.” 

“Oh yeah? That why you were so spacey?” 

“Heh, I guess.” She smiled. She really did love spending time with Gray. He always found some way to put her at ease, he just had a very calming presence. “I don’t know, there was this weird crate, and it was covered up. They wouldn’t let me see it! They’ve never stopped me from looking at things before. But the weirdest thing was that they let me go early. They  _ never _ do that.” 

Gray hummed. “They must have found something really interesting. You know where they’ve been looking recently?” 

She shook her head. “Not a clue. I know they had been looking out in the deep woods, you know, the far west of the island, since that’s where they’ve searched the least.” 

“Well, they aren’t idiots. Even Ultear won’t go out there,” Gray said. “That’s a death wish.” 

Erza grimaced. Everyone on Magnolia knew to stay away from that section of the forest. Very few that wandered out that way ever came back. Because of that, it was one of the most secluded places on the island, very tempting, but Gray was right. Not even people like Ultear, Mirajane, or Erza herself went out that way. “Yeah, well, I think they were thinking about it. They’ve exhausted pretty much any other place. Honestly… I was hoping they found good things out there, because if they decide to go to a different island…” 

“You think they would force you to go with them?” Gray asked. 

“I…” She pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. “I don’t know. Maybe.” 

“If it comes to that, I’m not keeping quiet anymore, Erza,” he said. “I’m getting everyone else involved. I’m not letting them take you away and use you as a slave for the rest of your life.” 

“I…” Erza bit at her lip. “It’s fine. It might not even happen. Besides, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I want to know what’s in that crate they had!” 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually,” he said. 

“I swear something moved inside of it, Gray!” she exclaimed, uncurling so she could throw her arms in the air. “I swear it!” 

Gray frowned. “Have they ever had alive things before? Like… animals or something?” 

“Nope, never once,” she said. “That’s what has me so curious. I have no idea what it might be.” 

“Well let me know when you figure it out, I’m a little curious now, too,” he said. 

Erza laughed and forced herself up, stretching. “Sure thing.” She bounded down to the street below. She needed to get home soon, or Makarov might worry. While he might not know the specifics about her job, he had pieced together enough to know that things weren’t… right. 

“Don’t do anything stupid, though!” he warned. 

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved at him. “The same goes to you!” 

* * *

“Erza!” Jellal grabbed her wrist. 

Erza yelped, jerking backwards and shifting to grab the dagger strapped to her belt, before relaxing when she realized who it was. “Gods, Jellal, don’t do that!” 

“You were here yesterday, right?” he demanded. 

Erza narrowed her eyes. “Yeah…” Of course she was here. She was here  _ every day _ unless the merchants had decided to sail out. Unlike Jellal, she wasn’t allowed time off. 

“So you saw?” 

“Saw what?” 

A sad look came over Jellal’s features. “Oh… So you don’t…” He let out a shaky breath. “It’s awful, Erza. They’re—” 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her fingers itching for her blade again. It took a lot to get Jellal worked up. Whatever this was, she was beginning to get extremely worried. 

He took her head. “Just… just follow me. And I know it’s terrible, I  _ know, _ but you can’t do anything without thinking. It will just make it worse.” 

“Huh?” 

He tugged her after him, across the dock and to the merchants’ ship. Just like yesterday, they were all buzzing with excitement, they didn’t even spare a glance towards Jellal or Erza, ever as he dragged her below deck. 

“Seriously,” she said, as soon as they were out of earshot. “What the hell’s gotten into y—” The words died in her throat, and she didn’t need Jellal to explain as her eyes landed on it. 

Not  _ it. _

_ Him. _

Erza’s hands came up to cover her mouth. Sure, she had expected something alive, some kind of rare animal or something, but not… not  _ this. _

It hadn’t been a crate hidden beneath that sheet. No, it was a  _ cage. _ And while the creature inside was certainly no human, it wasn’t an animal either. 

_ A dragon hybrid, _ she realized. 

He watched her with cold eyes, his slit pupils tracking her every movement. Even though a muzzle covered the bottom half of his face, she still got the feeling he was trying to bare his teeth at her, and a wary growl thrummed from his chest. 

The cage wasn’t large enough for him to rise to his full height, not even close, leaving him huddled in the corner, as far away from her and Jellal as he could manage to get. Thick chains bound his red-scaled wings together, smashing them against his back in a way that could not be comfortable. By some small mercy, his hands hadn’t been shackled, but he had chains wrapped around his ankles, latched to the bars of the cage, allowing him only the slightest movement. Claws dug into the filthy scarf wrapped around his neck as he held the garment in a death grip. His horns bumped against the top of the cage as he shifted. Blood stained his torn clothes, it even matted his pink hair. Dried splatters of the liquid decorated his skin, blending with the dark red scale patches dotting his body. 

Erza nearly felt  _ sick. _ “Gods,” she whispered, wishing Jellal had given her  _ some _ kind of warning. 

“I know,” Jellal muttered darkly. 

Erza took a step towards the cage. She had no idea what she was going to do. Even if she had the numerous keys needed to unlock the cage and unlatch the chains and shackles, it wasn’t like she could just  _ let him go. _ Never mind her own head that would be on the chopping block, Jellal would end up in trouble, too. Not to mention this dragon wouldn’t be able to get far, considering the injuries he probably had, never mind the exhaustion and malnourishment, as she was certain he probably wasn’t being fed well. 

How long ago had they managed to capture him? Because it sure seemed as if he’d been chained in that cage for a lot longer than a  _ day. _

But when she got closer, the growling got louder, and the dragon pressed himself even further into the corner, so she stopped, not wanting to make this any worse for him by making him even more upset. 

“Jellal…” What were they going to  _ do? _ She couldn’t just leave him like this! She couldn’t! 

“I know, I know,” he repeated. “Trust me.” She thought his voice might have cracked. “I  _ understand. _ But we can’t…” 

Erza grit her teeth. She knew the people she worked for were awful, she  _ knew  _ that, but she had never thought… 

This wasn’t an  _ animal. _ This was an intelligent being, with thoughts and emotions and a free will, and he was being treated like  _ this. _ How could they  _ do _ this!? 

“I’ll help you,” she told the dragon, the words tumbling out before she could even think. “I won’t let this happen to you. You’re not going to be sold, okay?” She risked another step forward, and though every muscle in the dragon’s body was still taught, and the growling didn’t stop, his aggression didn’t increase. “I’ll get you out of here somehow. I  _ promise.”  _


	2. Chapter 2

“Erza?” 

A knife sank into the side of the ship, followed by a frustrated scream. 

“Erza!” 

_ “What?” _ she snarled, whipping around to glare at Jellal. She didn’t think she’d  _ ever _ been so angry in her entire life. If she thought it was awful just  _ seeing _ the dragon hybrid like that, she hadn’t been prepared to watch the way he was actually treated. 

When they’d given him his meager food rations, just enough to keep him alive, he’d bitten the person that removed his muzzle (not that Erza could blame him), which led to him getting bashed over the head, and wrapped in even more chains. He’d spent the entire rest of the day laying, lethargic and dazed, in the bottom of the cage, with blood sluggishly leaking from a cut on his temple. 

“He’s gonna die within a week if this keeps up.” She yanked her knife out of the wood, before leaning against the wall of the ship to slide down it. 

“They won’t let him die,” Jellal insisted. “They won’t get their money if he does.” 

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” She didn’t know much about how dragon hybrids were treated after they were bought, but she couldn’t imagine it was much better than how he was being treated now. 

Jellal frowned, and sat down next to her, nestled between the crates filling the storage room. “They won’t let him die,” he said again. “And they’ll want to keep him in relatively good shape, no matter who they decide to sell him to. I’d imagine someone who wants to use him as a fighter.” 

“Like they use me…” Erza mumbled miserably. 

Jellal winced at his poor choice of words. “It’s better than selling him as a pet, though.” 

Erza glanced at him. “Huh?”

Jellal sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve seen this kind of thing before, on other islands. The dragon hybrids… they either sell them as fighters or pets. The fighters go to people to be put to work, and the pets go to the wealthy as… well, pets, just to be pretty.” He leaned against the side of the ship. “Generally, the females become pets while the males become fighters, so I want to say he’ll probably be a fighter, but I… I really don’t know about this one that they have. He’s small, and with that pink hair, I don’t know, they clean him up good enough, and they might try selling him as a pet. They usually go for more money.” 

Erza often forgot that Jellal hadn’t actually grown up on Magnolia, he seemed so at home here, but he had seen a lot more than Erza had. 

“Oh…” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “How long do you think we have before they sell him?” 

Jellal shrugged. “I’m not sure. They might decide to ship out early because they have him now.” He gave Erza a  _ look. _ “I know what you’re thinking, Erz, but there’s nothing you can do for him now. And if you try, you’re only going to make it worse for him and you.” 

“I can’t just let them  _ do _ this!” she hissed. 

Jellal let out a shaky breath. “I know it’s awful, trust me, I really do, but—” 

_ “No,” _ she insisted. “Jellal, I  _ can’t!”  _

He shoved his hand over her mouth. “Keep your voice down! You want them to  _ know _ you’re thinking about breaking out their prized possession?” 

She growled and forced his hand away. “Don’t  _ fucking  _ do that!” she snapped, shoving him back. 

“S-Sorry,” he stammered, averting his gaze. “I didn’t—” He groaned. “Look, Erza, I’m just telling you to be  _ careful. _ These people have you on a tight leash, sure, but they can make it so much worse for you if they want to. Besides, how are you even  _ planning _ on getting that dragon out of here? Never mind how hard it would be to sneak him out of here, the second you unchain him he’s going to attack you.” 

Erza opened her mouth to argue, before she realized he was right. Even if she came up with some kind of fool proof plan to break the dragon hybrid out and sneak him through the village, the second Erza let him out and unchained him, he was probably going to try mauling her. 

“Well… then I’ll just have to gain his trust,” she said, like it was perfectly obvious. She stood up, sheathed her knife, and marched out of the storage room to the one where they were keeping the dragon hybrid. “Keep watch and make sure no one catches what I’m doing.” 

“Wait—” Jellal tried to grab for her, but she shook him off. 

Erza was determined to make the dragon trust her. 

* * *

The shivering was the worst part. 

Pain didn’t bother Natsu. The aches in his bones and muscles from being unable to move, the itchy cuts that still bled if he struggled too much, the throbbing in his temple from where he’d been hit today…. Honestly, none of it was that bad. 

The hunger bothered him more than the pain. He  _ hated _ being hungry. They weren’t feeding him enough, and it didn’t help that he could see the miniscule amount of food he’d been given today laying just out of reach, but between the chains and the muzzle, he could never hope to actually get it and eat it. 

(It’d definitely been worth sinking his teeth into that woman’s hand, though). 

But the shivering… 

His entire body quivered, shaking every so slightly, never giving him a moment’s peace. He was  _ cold, _ and Natsu  _ hated _ being cold. Never mind the fact that he hadn’t had any fire to eat in days, but down here in the hold of the ship, there was no sun, no heat for him to bask in and warm his scales and skin. He suspected that was part of the reason he felt so slow and disoriented. He  _ was not _ meant to be this cold. 

All of this because of one stupid mistake, one slip up. 

Normally, he told himself he could get out of anything, no matter what. 

But as more days passed, he was seriously starting to wonder if there  _ was _ a way out of this. 

_ Damn humans. _ His claws flexed, and he imagined tearing into the ones who had put him in this cage.  _ Dad was right about them.  _

His ear twitched as he heard footsteps approaching, but he scarcely had the energy or will to lift his head and see who it was. Probably just another one of the bastards wanting to gawk at him. Or brag about how much stupid money they could get for him. 

The person kneeled next to the cage. There was no malice or excitement or greed in her expression. Not even pity. Just pure anger. 

Honestly, it kind of scared Natsu. 

“They still haven’t let you eat?” 

He shifted, ever so slightly, so he could get a better look at her. He recognized her as the woman from this morning, with the bright red hair, and all the swords and knives on her belt. 

She was so  _ close, _ too close. A quiet growl thrummed from his chest, but she didn’t back away. No, she settled down on her knees next to the cage, like she had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. 

So what? He better get used to being stared at. That’s all he was meant for now. 

But that didn’t mean he had to humor her, so he forced his body to roll over. Every instinct in him told him it was a bad idea to turn his back to someone he didn’t completely trust, but it wasn’t like it mattered in a place like this. 

The woman didn’t say anything for a few moments, and she didn’t move either. Natsu just listened to her steady breathing. 

“Do you want to eat?” she eventually asked. 

Natsu didn’t bother to reply. Even if he could answer her with words, it wouldn’t matter. Humans wouldn’t ever see him as anything more than an animal, so what point was there in trying to speak with them? 

She hummed, and Natsu sensed her move even closer to the bars of the cage. “I imagine you must be hungry.” 

Soft, delicate fingers suddenly gripped the straps keeping the muzzle fastened against Natsu’s face. 

His entire body went rigid, and he jerked away from her, expecting another injury of some kind. Wary growls transformed into angry and fearful snarls as he forced himself up to glare at her. His wings instinctively tried to flare, but the chains kept them firmly pinned against his back, causing an uncomfortable ache in his muscles as he tried to move them. 

The woman yanked her hand back. “Sorry, sorry. I should have given you some kind of warning.” She held both her hands up in some kind of gesture that didn’t mean a damn thing to Natsu. “But you can’t eat with that thing on.” 

No, he couldn’t. But that didn’t mean he wanted any of these people’s hands anywhere near his face or head to get it off. Not again.

“Please, can I take it off you? I promise, that’s all I’m going to do.” Slowly, she lowered her hands, and offered him a small smile. “I just want to help.” 

Natsu narrowed his eyes. Like hell he believed a single person here wanted to  _ help _ him, but like it or not, he was going to have to suck it up and accept someone chaining and unchaining him, letting him eat, or he was going to die here. 

And as stubborn as he could be, Natsu wasn’t about to kill himself out of spite. 

So he forced himself to stop growling, and scooted a little closer to the woman, angling his head so she could better remove the muzzle. 

Her eyes lit up, and she reached through the bars of the cage, unbuckling the muzzle and letting it drop to the floor of the cage with a solid  _ thunk. _

Natsu gasped, relishing in the fresh air brushing against the lower half of his face. He’d only had the muzzle on for about two days now, but it felt like  _ forever.  _ And the few seconds it had been removed for earlier in the day when he’d managed that bite were nowhere  _ near _ long enough. 

“Oh!” The woman leaned even closer. “You have big fangs! I guess that makes sense… and explains all the blood on…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I guess I could see what Jellal was talking about. You are rather pretty.” 

_ Pretty?  _ Natsu almost bared his teeth at her. Was that some kind of joke? Were these bastards seriously going to sell him because they thought he was  _ pretty!?  _

“I wish I could help you get cleaned up a bit,” she continued. “At least wash the blood off, get the mats out of your hair, clean clothes, that kind of thing.” She sighed and shook her head. “But I’m afraid there’s only so much I can do for you in a place like this… at the moment, anyways.” She gestured to the pathetic plate of food lying a few feet away. “Aren’t you going to eat?” 

Hesitantly, Natsu reached for the plate, before sniffing at it. He wasn’t a picky eater by any means, especially when he was as hungry as he was now, but he didn’t trust these people not to put something in his food. Poison, sleeping drugs, anything like that. 

Normally he wasn’t so cautious, but that was what had landed him in this mess, so maybe it was time to start changing that. 

Satisfied that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, Natsu devoured the food in just a few bites, barely bothering to chew the old, stringy meat he’d been given. He considered licking the plate when the woman spoke up again, “I’ll try and sneak you whatever food I can,” she promised. “I know that can’t have been enough for you, especially for the whole day.” 

Natsu dropped the plate, his attention snapping back towards her, suspicious that she was lying, or trying to manipulate him. But he sensed nothing but sincerity from her. He could see it in her eyes, hear it in her steady heartbeat. She genuinely wanted to help him. 

But  _ why?  _

She held her hand to her chest. “My name’s Erza. What’s yours?” 

Natsu just stared at her, not offering her an answer. He didn’t  _ want _ to give these people his name. It felt  _ wrong, _ not to mention the last thing he wanted was for them to actually start using it for him. He much preferred them just called him  _ the dragon, _ or  _ the merchandise, _ a few had even started calling him  _ Salamander.  _ No, he didn’t want to hear his real name coming from their mouths. 

“Can you speak?” Erza asked, and Natsu was almost offended that she thought he couldn’t, until she added, “I mean, I know dragons can talk, and I know you can understand me, I can tell from the way you’ve reacted to my words, but have you been injured? Or… maybe you just don’t talk?” 

Natsu opened his mouth, halfway considering giving her an answer, but decided against it. He had nothing to say to her. 

Erza sighed. “Well… okay then.” Gingerly, she reached into the cage again to pick the muzzle back up. “And… I-I truly am sorry about this, but… it will be worse for both of us if someone sees you without this on.” 

He wanted to tell her no, to snap at her hands as she got closer, but deep down, he knew she was right. If the other humans saw him without the muzzle on, there would no doubt be consequences. So he didn’t stop her as she put it back on. 

She was much gentler than the others had been, and did she fasten the muzzle nearly as tightly. Her hands lingered for a moment, brushing the back of his hair, but she pulled back as he began to stiffen. 

“I promise, I’m going to do whatever I can to help you.” She grabbed the empty plate from the cage and smiled at him. “So the others won’t know. They’ll assume someone took the food from you.” 

Erza stood up, that bright smile never leaving her face. “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? Try and get some sleep.” 

Natsu nearly snorted. It wasn’t like there was much else to do here. 

But for some reason… he felt a little twinge of sadness when she left him alone again. 


	3. Chapter 3

“We need to get more hair dye soon,” Ultear said, leaning over to tug at Lyon’s hair. “Your roots are starting to show.” 

Lyon grunted, before shoving her away. “We’ll deal with it later.” 

“We absolutely will  _ not,” _ Ultear snapped. “I’ll go get some later today. I’m sure I can get some from Mira.” 

“It’s a waste of money,” Lyon argued, crossing his arms and turning his nose up. “White hair is perfectly natural.” 

“Not at your age, dumbass,” Gray mumbled. “It’s weird enough that people would be at least a  _ little _ suspicious.” 

“You’re not the one who has to alter their appearance!” his brother shouted. 

“Knock it off!” Ultear grabbed Lyon’s ear, twisting it, causing him to yelp. “In case you’re forgetting, it’s not just you, but I need to dye mine as well!” 

Gray sighed, tuning out the rest of their argument. Lyon was right. Gray had never had to worry about the color of his hair giving away his magical abilities. Lyon’s white hair was practically a death sentence, and while Ultear’s wasn’t nearly as obvious, it  _ did _ glint purple in the right lighting, so she dyed it black, just to be on the safe side. The black hair also caused most to believe they were blood related as well. 

He began to shiver. Maybe Erza was right, maybe it really was too cold for them to still be sleeping in the streets. But that meant either caving and asking someone to house them for the winter, or pay to stay in an inn, not something they really had the money for. But at the least, perhaps he should invest in another coat. It’d been a few years since he got a new one, and his current one was wearing thin, covered in holes, and the sleeves were just a touch too short. 

His breath billowed through the air, little flecks of snow beginning to fall. “It’s gonna be another cold night…” he muttered. He’d never minded the cold, quite the opposite, in fact, but sometimes… he did wish he could actually feel true  _ warmth.  _

Ultear and Lyon froze, his sister still gripping Lyon’s ear, and Lyon holding a fistful of Ultear’s hair. 

Gray scoffed and rolled his eyes. At twenty-one and twenty-three, he would think his brother and sister would be over this type of behavior, but evidently not. 

“Oh fuck off, Gray,” Lyon said, letting go of Ultear’s hair and shoving her away. “I don’t think—” 

“Gray!” 

“Shit,” he muttered. 

Erza marched into the alley. “Gods, I  _ knew _ you three were still sleeping out here.” 

“Why, hello, Erza,” Ultear greeted. “Nice to see you, as always. What are you here to bully my little brother over this time?” 

“Like it’s any of your business where we sleep, Scarlet,” Lyon said bitterly. 

Gray had to bite back a groan. Lyon had never gotten along very well with most of his friends, insisting they were too reckless and carefree for Gray and were going to get him in trouble (ironic, considering the kind of things he did with Lyon and Ultear to get money). And Ultear, well… She actually rather liked most of them, but ever since she and Erza had had a brief stint of being “friends with benefits,” it was always awkward when they interacted. 

Erza waved them off, not even bothering to reply, before she grabbed the furred collar of Gray’s coat and hauled him to his feet. “I need to speak with you.  _ Now.”  _

“Erza!” He squirmed in her grasp, yanking himself out of her iron grip. “What the hell? About  _ what?” _

“Be home by dark!” Ultear called after him, her voice teasing. 

“Shut up!” Gray shouted back, before tailing after Erza. “Gods… What’s up, Erza?” While his friend could often be very demanding, it was strange for her to actually hunt him down like this, content to wait for him to show up in their usual meeting spots. 

“Erza?” he prompted again, starting to get a little worried as he realized her hands were shaking, and the way she chewed on her lip, a nervous habit she’d developed over the years. “Hey, Erza!” He grabbed her hand and forced to stop walking. “Tell me what the hell this is about.” 

A tear dripped down her cheek as she turned to face him. 

_ Shit. _ The last time he had actually seen Erza cry was when the people she worked for found out she could use magic. Whatever the hell had happened was already pissing Gray the hell off. And as soon as he found out who was responsible for making Erza cry, he was going to—

“I found out what the new thing the merchants brought back was today…” she sniffled, reaching up to brush the tear away. “I held it together while I was there, but  _ fuck, _ I don’t know, as soon as I left, I just… And I didn’t want to go home and worry Makarov.” 

Gray grimaced, before gently grabbing her hand and coaxing her into sitting on the ground. Of course this had something to do with her stupid fucking job.  _ Of course _ it did. “Tell me what happened,” he said, sitting down next to her and giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 

Erza took a deep breath, the frustration and sorrow in her eyes morphing to anger, something Gray was  _ much _ more familiar with. “They captured a dragon hybrid.” 

“Oh…  _ Oh.” _ Gray’s shoulders slumped. “Shit.” 

“Yeah.” Erza pulled one of the knives from her belt, and began stabbing at the little patches of ice on the ground. “It’s awful what they’re doing to him, Gray. It’s… It’s just terrible.” 

Gray leaned back, resting his weight on the palms of his hands, hoping that would help disguise the ice he knew was beginning to form at his fingertips. They were still a decent ways away from the main street, but he didn’t want to risk it. “I didn’t even know there were anymore on the island.” 

“Yeah, me either,” Erza muttered. “But evidently there was.” She stabbed the knife into the ground so furiously the blade chipped.

“They’re not gonna…” Gray could barely force the next words out. “They’re not gonna kill them and sell their wings and horns and shit, are they?” 

Erza’s face paled. “Is that something people do!?” 

“Fuck, I—” He’d assumed she knew about that, given her job and the fact that those fucking awful people  _ had _ a dragon hybrid. “I mean, I don’t know for  _ sure, _ but for that little bit when Ultear left Magnolia and got involved in all that fucked up shit? She saw some pretty awful things. She doesn’t talk about it often, but… you know…” 

“Yeah…” Erza finally let go of her knife, letting it clatter to the ground, and pulled her knees to her chest. “Either way, I don’t think that’s what they’re going to do with him. Jellal thinks they’re going to sell him as a pet to some rich bastard.” 

“He’d know, wouldn’t he,” Gray muttered darkly. 

Surprisingly, Erza didn’t tell him Jellal wasn’t so bad, like she did every other time Gray insulted him, which just drove home how broken up she was about this. 

Not that Gray could blame her. The dragons and dragon hybrids had been hunted nearly to extinction by this point, with those that remained slowly being captured and sold as sick playthings to the rich on the larger islands. 

As a magic user, personally… Gray felt a type of kinship with the dragon hybrids. If people were to discover his abilities, he could end up blackmailed into working an awful job like Erza, people would refuse to business with him, no one would care except his family, friends, and fellow magic users if he suddenly turned up dead one day under mysterious circumstances 

Sure, he wasn’t getting literally sold as property, or being treated like a mindless animal, but he understood having to hide constantly, not ever fully trusting anyone unless they were like him. 

It was a little easier in Magnolia, since it was a smaller island on the outer rim, and because he’d found so many other magic users, but it was still a hard life. 

“Jellal told me what they do to the ones they sell as pets,” Erza continued. “Gods, it’s  _ awful _ Gray. They file down their teeth and claws, even their  _ horns, _ they even clip their wings so they can’t ever fly again, and they dress them up in collars and shackles and— and  _ gods,” _ she bit out. “It  _ pisses _ me off. He doesn’t  _ deserve _ that. Even now, they’re practically torturing him!” 

Gray gave her a wary look, as he realized where this was probably going. And while he was sympathetic, he really was, what Erza wanted was  _ extremely _ risky. 

“They won’t feed him enough, he’s chained up all the time, they hurt him if he doesn’t do exactly what they want.” She rested her chin on her knees. “He’s terrified, not that I can blame him. You know he wouldn’t even talk to me?” She sighed. “I know he can understand me, there’s no language barrier, but he doesn’t trust me enough to even  _ speak _ to me.” 

“Erza… you can’t expect him to trust you in a place like that,” Gray pointed out. 

“I know. I’m going to try and gain his trust as best I can, sneak him extra food, defend him, if at all possible, and I know Jellal will do so as well, but…” 

“Come on,” Gray prompted. “Be upfront about it. You want to break him out.” 

“Of course I do!” she exclaimed. “How the hell could I just leave him there like that? To be treated like that and physically mutilated? Before being sold to be treated like… like some  _ thing _ for the rest of his life? If he gets taken off this island, there’s not a bit of hope for him.” 

“Yeah, and what about you? They’re gonna  _ know _ someone broke him out, and of course their first suspect is gonna be you,” Gray argued. “You think they won’t stoop so low as to reveal that you have magic to the whole island? Because they will, and then you’re  _ fucked.”  _

“I know, I  _ know,” _ she said. “I’m still trying to figure out the details, but Gray, I’m  _ going _ to do it. And… And I want your help.” 

There it was. “Erza, you know I love you, and there’s not much I wouldn’t do for you, but what the  _ hell _ do you think I could even do in this situation?” 

“Your ice!” she said, throwing her arms out for emphasis. “You can freeze the chains and cage, and— and in a worse case scenario where we’d have to fight, well… I’d rather have you by my side than be alone.” 

“Ultear and Lyon would kill me.” 

“They don’t have to know.” 

“When are you even wanting to do this?” 

“As soon as possible,” she said, turning to him and grabbing his shoulders, her eyes burning with a fiery intensity. “Gray, we  _ have _ to do this.” 

“And what about after? Not just us, but what are you going to do with the  _ dragon? _ They aren’t just going to let him go,” he said. “They’ll scour the island until they capture him again.” 

“Then we get him off the island,” she said like it was perfectly obvious. 

“Erza!” Gray nearly choked.  _ Off _ the island?  _ How? _ Where else would they even  _ take _ him? 

“I’ll— I’ll figure it out,” she stammered. “Maybe I can ask Levy and Lucy, maybe they’ll know somewhere safer for… beings like him.” 

Gray scoffed. “I doubt it.” 

“I’m not going to let something like that stop me,” she insisted. “Even if he has to keep running for the rest of his life, it’s better than living the rest of it like  _ that.” _

Gray knew she was right. Fleeing for eternity would be better than living your entire life damned to an existence like that one. 

“Fine,” he relented. Honestly, he’d had no intentions of refusing Erza’s desperate plea for help. How could he? He’d never turn Erza down, and he’d never be able to forgive himself if he knew there was something he could do for this dragon, but hadn’t done it. “Come up with a better plan, I’m relying on you for that, since I don’t actually know anything about the people you work with, or the security there. And we need to speak to Levy, Lucy, maybe even Lisanna about what to do with him afterwards, alright?” 

Erza threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Gray and burying her face in his shoulder. “Thank you,  _ thank you, _ Gray.” 

Gently, he rubbed her back. “Yeah, yeah, just  _ don’t _ tell Lyon or Ultear. They’ll skin us both alive.” 

“Don’t tell Makarov,” Erza requested in return. 

Gray scoffed. “Yeah, like hell I would. Are you going to involve anyone else?” 

She let go of him, and hummed. “Jellal, as much as I can, but he probably won’t want to be directly involved. Other than him… I don’t think so. It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s just…” 

“They’ll think you’re being an idiot?” 

“Yeah…” 

“You’re likely going to have to tell Levy and Lucy at least  _ some _ of it,” he warned her. “They’ll be suspicious if you ask them about safe places for dragon hybrids, and you’re not a good liar.” 

“I’ll figure it out,” she assured him. 

“Yeah, you better get on that.” 

* * *

It’d been four days since Natsu had been discovered in that trap and shoved into this fucking cage. He could feel himself getting weaker with each passing day, not eating enough and being unable to move certain muscles… it was getting to him. He felt like he hardly had the strength to sit up occasionally. 

The humans had finally washed the blood and dirt off of him yesterday, deciding they needed to start making him more  _ presentable _ if they were really going to sell him once they got to wherever they were going to be taking him. 

Of course, that just meant they’d dumped freezing sea water all over him, and viciously scrubbed the blood and grime off him with whatever spare rags they’d managed to scrounge up. It left him shivering, his body too cold to even  _ function _ properly. They’d taken the opportunity to cut his hair, claiming it was uneven and too long, not to mention matted (which it wouldn’t even  _ be  _ matted if they hadn’t left him in their goddamn trap for three days, laying in mud and his own blood, his body exhausted because he’d been thrashing and trying to escape the trap for too long). 

He  _ hated _ it. He’d never had such short hair for as long as he could remember. It just barely curled over his ears, and his bangs hung in his eyes, too short for him to tuck behind his ears. But the bastards had done it while he’d been unable to fight back at all. 

They’d debated putting him in new clothes, but had thankfully decided to wait until they got to the other islands, and could get him something specifically tailored for  _ pets. _

He shuddered at the thought, but could only be relieved that they hadn’t tried to take his scarf away from him, as he was sure they would try at some point. 

He  _ did _ feel a little better after getting cleaned up, but it was a marginal amount. 

His only comfort, the only  _ good _ thing in the hellhole, was Erza. 

Natsu scolded himself for getting attached to her so quickly, for forming something akin to  _ trust. _ But what else was there for him to do? She snuck him extra food at least once a day, and always checked the straps on his muzzle, loosening it as much as she dared. 

When she had downtime, she’d talk to him. Talk to him like a  _ person, _ chatting with him like he might be some kind of  _ friend.  _ Not an animal, like everyone else did. 

He still had yet to actually speak to her, even when she took the muzzle off to allow him to eat whatever food she’d brought him. He didn’t trust himself not to say something they could use against him, or let his name slip, and that was what Erza was waiting for. She was just tricking him, making him feel safe, until he gave up something like that. 

But as time went on… he began thinking she might be genuine. 

And that scared him more than anything. 

Because he didn’t want to hope, and then find out she was just as much of an enemy as every other human here was. 

There was another man, Jellal, that was never…  _ unkind _ to him, and he seemed close with Erza, but Natsu didn’t trust him nearly as much as her. 

“Hey there, Salamander,” Erza said as she came in, sitting down next to his cage. She’d taken to calling him Salamander, just like the other merchants did, not that he could blame her, considering he hadn’t actually given her his name. 

He perked up, hoping maybe she’d brought him some more food. 

“Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t have anything extra for you today,” she admitted. “I brought it… but one of them noticed when I got my lunch out, and I never bring extra food, and I was worried they would notice what I was up to if I didn’t eat it myself.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’ll be more careful tomorrow, though.” 

_ Yeah, you better. _ He was starting to forget what it actually felt like to  _ not _ be hungry. 

Erza scooted a little closer. “I’ll still take the muzzle off for a little while, though. Jellal’s guarding the door for us, so we should be okay.” She reached through the bars of the cage, her fingers as delicate as ever as she removed the  _ awful _ fucking thing. “Maybe you’ll tell me your real name today?” she prompted. 

Natsu narrowed her eyes at her. 

“Yeah, didn’t think so.” The muzzle unbuckled with a small  _ click, _ and she let it drop to the floor of the cage. 

“I’m sorry they waited until I was gone to cut your hair yesterday,” she said. “I doubt there would have been much I could have done, but…” 

Natsu shrugged. He’d realized by now that Erza didn’t exactly have a lot of power here. She was ordered around by everyone, from what he’d seen. Some of them even treated her with about the same amount of decency he was treated with. 

He couldn’t help but wonder the reason. 

He could ask her, but he was still wary of actually speaking to her, despite it all. 

“You know I want to get you out of here, Salamander, right?” she said, leaning against the cage and offering him a smirk. 

He growled. Like he’d ever believe in something like that. Oh, maybe she did want to help him escape, but that didn’t mean she actually would, or that she was capable of such a thing. 

“I do!” she argued, though her tone was teasing. “My friend even said he would help.” 

Natsu huffed and turned away from her. 

“Oh, don’t be like that!” She reached through the bars of the cage, like she wanted to touch him, but she refrained. The only times she actually touched him were when she was taking the muzzle on and off. 

Which was good. Natsu honestly thought he might try and take her hand off if she did it any other time. As much as he hated going so long without positive physical touch, he didn’t feel comfortable enough to let her do something like that. Not here. 

“I’m being serious!” she continued. “I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that. I’m just… trying to work out the details.” 

Natsu turned back to her, one eyebrow raised. 

“I’m just asking that you don’t try to viciously maul me or him when we try, alright?” she requested. 

Don’t maul her in the event that she actually succeeded in getting him out of these damn chains. He was pretty sure he could manage at least that much. 

“I still don’t understand why you won’t actually talk to me,” she sighed. “I know you can, and you act like you’re going to. I think you actually have to stop yourself at times.” 

At this point? Part of it was stubbornness. Stubbornness coupled with the fear that he would fuck up and say something he shouldn’t and the wrong person would hear. 

“Well, whatever, I just—” 

“Erza.” Jellal cracked the door open. “Time’s up.” 

She groaned, but picked up the muzzle to fasten it back on. “We’ll talk some more tomorrow. Well…  _ I’ll _ talk some more tomorrow,” she amended. “But I hope I’ll get to actually hear your voice soon.” 

For the first time since this disaster had started, Natsu smiled. He didn’t mean to, it just  _ happened.  _ He leaned forward, baring his teeth in a grin at Erza. 

“Oh!” Her eyes widened, before she smiled back. “I hope that’s a yes.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Erza took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the library. She couldn’t put this off for any longer. It’d been a week since Gray had agreed to help her break out the dragon hybrid, and Erza was making good headway in getting Salamander to trust her. While he still wouldn’t actually speak to her, she’d gotten him to answer yes and no questions with head nods, reply with vague gestures. Not to mention he certainly seemed to perk up whenever she had the time to come speak to him, even when she didn’t have extra food for him. 

Not to mention they were running out of time. The merchants were scheduled to leave Magnolia in about two more weeks, and if they left with Salamander, that was it. There wouldn’t be a single thing Erza could do for him anymore. She  _ had _ to figure out a place for him to go after she broke him out. 

And that meant speaking to Lucy and Levy. 

“Oh, hey, Erza!” Levy exclaimed, waving and smiling at Erza from a ladder, as she couldn't reach the higher shelves without one. “What brings you here? And how’s Gray been? He hasn’t stopped by in a while.” 

Erza began to fidget with her belt, tapping her fingers against the hilts of the blades dangling from it. As soon as she started asking about dragon hybrids, Levy would  _ know _ something was going on, and likely Lucy would too. “Gray’s fine,” Erza said absentmindedly. 

Levy’s easy smile began to fade, and she climbed down the ladder to better face Erza. “Did something happen? Is everything okay?” 

“Is Lucy here?” Erza asked, looking around the little library. 

“She’s in the back, but she’ll be back out soon,” Levy answered. “Seriously, Erza, is everything okay?” 

The redhead sighed, turning away from her friend to stare at one of the bookshelves. She was here now. She should just do it. Besides, Lucy and Levy weren’t big on gossiping (unlike some other people she knew). If she asked them not to say anything, it was likely they wouldn’t. “I was hoping you would have some information for me.” 

“On what?” Levy asked, cocking her head, her smile slowly returning. “That’s a little unlike you, you know.” 

“Yeah… it’s about dragon hybrids, and places where… they might be… safe. Or safer, anyways,” Erza said, turning her full attention back to Levy. 

“Oh, Erza.” The librarian shook her head. “Just what have you gotten into?” 

“Why do you assume I’ve gotten into anything?” Erza demanded, crossing her arms. “Maybe I’m just curious and want information!” 

“You have not set foot in this library of your own volition since Makarov finally stopped making you come because you had basic reading comprehension skills,” Levy pointed out. “Don’t kid me. If you actually want me to help, tell me what’s going on.” 

“Levy…” Erza whined. She had been hoping to at least get  _ somewhere _ with this before Levy started asking questions _at all,_ let alone demanding that Erza explain the entire situation. 

“Erza…” Levy whined in reply. 

“Lucy was not a good influence on you, you used to be so nice,” Erza complained. “She made you sarcastic and mean.” 

Levy snorted. “My girlfriend did no such thing. I just got tired of putting up with you lot. It’s giving me gray hairs!” 

“How would you know you have gray hairs? You dye it,” she pointed out. 

The librarian narrowed her eyes. “Yes well, blue hair is a bit of a death sentence around here. Personally I think you’re toeing the line with your red hair. But do you want my help or not? You’re not being very cooperative.” Though her tone was serious, Erza noticed the mischievous twinkle in Levy’s eyes. 

“Yes, yes I do want your help. Please, Levy, do you know anything at all about that?” Erza asked. “If I really have to explain I will… but just, could you trust me that it’s important? And I don’t care if you tell Lucy, but  _ please _ don’t say anything to anyone else. Especially not Makarov.” 

Levy frowned. “I can’t promise that if you’re putting yourself in danger.” 

“Gray knows!” she protested. “He knows, and he’s not said anything!” 

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” she sighed. “You two really do bring out the worst in each other at times. And Gray knows nothing about danger, he’s  _ always _ putting himself in danger.” 

Erza bit back a groan. She could point out that her employers knew about her magic, and it wasn’t like Erza wasn’t ever in danger either, but that would likely only make Levy worry more. “Fine, fine, if you think I’m being too risky, you can go tell everyone all about it, alright? But I need this information, and I need it as quickly as possible, Levy.” 

“You’re really worried about something, aren’t you?” her friend asked. 

Erza bit her lip, but nodded. “There’s… the people I work for, they’ve captured a dragon hybrid, and… and they’re gonna sell him on the mainland and, gods… Levy, I can’t let them do that to him.” 

As she spoke, Levy’s eyes grew wider and wider. “Oh, oh my gods!” she gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. “That’s  _ awful!”  _

“Yeah, I know. Me and Gray are gonna break him out, but the issue is… what to do with him  _ after,” _ she admitted. “I mean, it’s not like we can keep him hidden in the village, and if he goes back to… wherever he was before, there’s a good chance that they’ll just capture him again!” 

“You should go to Makarov about this,” Levy insisted. “You shouldn’t try and do this by yourself.” 

“I have Gray!” she argued. “And now I’m asking you!” 

“Erza… we could  _ help _ you.” 

She shook her head. “No, I can’t… I need to do this myself.” Honestly, she already felt guilty about getting Gray involved, but she simply hadn’t been able to think of any other way to get Salamander out of his chains beside Gray freezing them. It would have been best if she could have just done everything herself; Erza had no idea what she would do if one of her friends ended up in the same situation as her because they got their magic exposed trying to help her break a dragon hybrid out. “Please… please just tell me anything you might know.” 

“Gods, you’re so stubborn.” But thankfully, Levy turned and motioned for Erza to follow her deeper into the shelves. “Honestly, I’m afraid I don’t know much. There’s next to no information on dragons and dragon hybrids anyways. They’ve always kept to themselves more than anything, and especially after humans… you know, turned on magic and anything associated with it.” 

Erza grimaced. 

“Honestly, your best shot is going to be finding him an uninhabited island. Distance from humans would be the safest thing,” she continued. 

“That sounds lonely.” Erza wasn’t sure if she would be able to spend the rest of her life alone on an island, without a single soul to keep her company or talk to. 

“To us, maybe,” Levy said. “But dragons are fairly solitary, and if he’s really been on Magnolia all this time… well obviously he’s never interacted with any of us, so if there’s not any other dragons or hybrids, he’s been by himself all this time anyways.” 

“I guess that is true…” Erza conceded. “But still… would that really be the best we could do?” 

Levy shrugged. “I’m sorry, Erza, but it’s not like there’s an island that’s a safe haven for dragons or anything like that. Or at least, any that have been  _ confirmed _ to exist.” 

“Confirmed,” Erza repeated. “And what does that mean?” 

“Well, there’s legends and such,” Levy said, with a wild gesture of her hand. “There always are, about those types of things. But next to no proof that they actually exist, so I wouldn’t bank on a place like that.” 

“Okay… but what kind of  _ place _ are you talking about?” Erza pressed, a tiny sprout of hope growing in her chest, despite Levy warning her that something like that probably didn’t exist. 

“You know, legends of an island only meant for magic and magical beings, a perfect place for us, free from regular humans who want to hurt us and control us.” She shook her head, and ran her fingers along the books on the shelf. “It’s a nice fairy tale, something to imagine to get you through the day, but honestly, something like that existing? It sounds way too good to be true….” 

“Oh…” Erza hoped the disappointment didn’t show on her face. 

“Besides, you’d have to consider actually  _ finding  _ it,” Levy said. “It would take time, you’d need a ship, not to mention provisions and all that sort of thing. That’s not something you could just  _ do, _ and after you break this dragon out, those merchants, and the whole island, are going to be extremely diligent. They’ll notice any strange thing, like you suddenly wanting a boat and enough supplies for a long voyage, when everyone damn well knows that we never leave the island .” 

Gods, Gray was right. It was a good thing that Erza had come to speak with Levy, she had never considered anything like this herself. How  _ were _ they going to get Salamander off the island? Of course, he had wings, but how far could he actually fly before he needed a break? Surely not across the entire ocean. 

“Alright, so we just need to find an uninhabited island?” Erza clarified. “How hard will that be?” 

“Not hard at all,” Levy said. “They’re all over the place, according to the most recent cartographers. But really, Erza,  _ please, _ let us actually help you with this.” 

As she stared into Levy’s large, pleading eyes, a little bit of guilt spiked through her. How often had Gray and Cana stressed everyone out by refusing help and putting themselves at risk by using their magic in dangerous situations? And here Erza was, doing the exact same damn thing. “I’ll think about it,” she relented. 

Levy let out a breath of relief. 

“But please don’t tell anyone until I’ve made up my mind?” Erza requested. The last thing she wanted was everyone ambushing her, or worse, trying to do something without speaking to her about it first. 

“Fine,” Levy agreed. “Except Lucy. I’m not keeping anything from her.” 

“Fair enough,” Erza said. “And thanks, Levy. This… This helped.” 

“Well, I guess that’s good.” Levy began to twirl her hair around her finger. “But seriously, don’t do anything without actually thinking it through, and don’t bite off more than you can chew, especially with all of us right here to help you.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Erza promised, though she was beginning to get a little tired of everyone telling her to think things through and ask for help.  _ Thinking _ wasn’t going to help that dragon. “I’ll let you get back to work now. Thanks again.” 

* * *

“What do you  _ mean _ you’re not coming with us!?” Lyon snapped. “We’ve been planning this for weeks now!” 

“Look, I just can’t,” Gray said. “Something came up.” 

“Something more important than getting enough money to last us through the winter?” his brother drawled. 

_ “Yes,” _ Gray ground out. Lyon and Ultear were more than capable of carrying out a job without him, as big as it may be, and he had promised Erza. No, he hadn’t just promised Erza. He’d promised that dragon that he wouldn’t leave him to suffer. 

“Lyon, leave him be,” Ultear said from her place huddled in the blankets. “It’s obvious he’s up to something with Erza, of course he’s not going to come with us.” 

Lyon rolled his eyes. “Of course. Of course it is. She’s going to get you arrested some day!” 

“Oh, and you won’t?” Gray couldn’t help but snap. “You two want us to go use our magic to break in somewhere and  _ steal shit, _ one of the riskiest things we could possibly do!” 

“Oh yell that we have magic and are thieves a little louder, would you?” Lyon requested. 

“Oh please, no one ever comes anywhere near this shifty alley, that’s why we fucking live here!” Gray argued. 

“Would you two  _ shut up?” _ Ultear requested, before letting her head thump against the alley wall. “It doesn’t matter. He’s right, Lyon. We’re more than capable of handling this ourselves, and he probably wasn’t gonna come anyways. He never does when we leave the island for work.” 

“He said he was going to this time,” Lyon continued to argue, never taking his eyes off Gray, like he thought if he glared enough he would change his mind. “You know you can’t live your entire life on this island.” 

Gray crossed his arms and glared right back. “If I want to, I will, there isn’t anything you can do about it.” Truth be told, he just didn’t want to go anywhere without Erza, or go that long without seeing her. Or any of his other friends. It didn’t feel right. 

“Whatever,” Lyon grumbled, finally giving up on the argument. “But you better not be doing anything stupid. If we come back and you’re—” 

“Lay off, Lyon,” Ultear warned, pulling the blankets tighter around her shoulders. “He’ll be fine, he always is. And Erza will look out for him. Though I agree, you  _ better _ be in one piece when we get back. I get the sense that you’re up to something even dumber than usual.” 

Quite possibly. But Ultear didn’t need to know that. “I’ll be fine,” he insisted. “I’ll even stay over at Erza’s while you’re gone. Happy?” 

“Yeah, you know better than to sleep out here alone,” Ultear said. 

Gray hummed. It really was too cold to sleep out here anyways. They were all three going to have to sleep huddled together tonight if they wanted even a  _ chance _ at staying warm. 

“Look, just please be careful?” Lyon requested. “I never feel good about leaving you by yourself.” 

“I’ll be  _ fine,” _ Gray insisted again. “Really.” 

Erza would watch his back during all of this, just like he would watch hers. Just like they’d always been doing. 

* * *

“Erza!” 

Erza jumped, already having flashbacks to the last time Jellal had ambushed her before she could actually start working, and imagining nothing good. “What? Do we have  _ another _ dragon hybrid for me to worry about now?” 

Jellal shook his head. “Sorry, but… Gods, I’m sorry, Erza, but…” He brushed his hair out of his eyes, his shoulders starting to shake as a pathetic laugh escaped him. “You know, I was really hoping you’d manage it. I really was. I tried to convince them to wait, but they wouldn’t listen to me.” 

“Jellal, what the hell are you talking about?” Erza demanded, cold shivers racing up and down her spine. She  _ hated _ seeing Jellal like this. He was always so confident, so sure of himself, it was beyond strange to see him almost breaking down. 

“They’re leaving tomorrow morning,” he said, unable to look Erza in the eye anymore. “They want to get Salamander to the mainland as soon as possible, evidently there’s already a buyer lined up and everything.” 

It took Erza a moment to process Jellal’s words, her mind not wanting to accept them. But when she did… 

“No…” she whispered, her voice hoarse and grating. “No, I was supposed to have more time! Two more weeks, at least!” This wasn’t right, it wasn’t  _ fair!  _ Tears began to swim in her eyes, anger and frustration building within her. “Jellal!” 

“It was always a long shot anyways…” he muttered. “Please don’t blame yourself for this, Erza.” 

“I… I can’t…” She helplessly shook her head, still not wanting to accept Jellal’s words. “I still can’t give up on him…” 

“Erza,  _ please,” _ Jellal pleaded. “I know how these bastards operate, especially with dragon hybrids. You don’t have a plan, and no more time. You’re just going to end up hurting yourself. Just… I know it’s awful, but just let that hybrid go.” 

“No, no I  _ won’t,” _ she hissed. “I refuse!” She had part of a plan, and a decent idea of what to do with Salamander after they helped him escape. “Jellal, I’m  _ going _ to get him out of here, and not a goddamn thing is going to get in my way.” 


	5. Chapter 5

Natsu told himself that he hadn’t believed her. He had never actually thought that Erza could get him out of this place. Why should he trust in her that much? Even if she brought him food and talked to him and stood up for him whenever she got the chance. 

So why did he feel  _ betrayed _ knowing that she had failed? 

“Stop  _ squirming, _ you stupid fucking lizard!” the woman barked, just before slamming the heel of her boot against his back, right in between the shoulder blades. 

Natsu bit back a cry of pain, his teeth slicing into his tongue. 

The woman repositioned herself, kneeling over him, one of her knees digging into his wing, and grabbed one of his horns, roughly yanking his head to the side. “I can’t believe I got roped into this.” 

Natsu growled, and tried to shove her off again, but his struggles were pathetic. He was starving and cold and all his muscles and bones ached. He was  _ weak, _ so weak that he could be held down by a single person. 

“Shut up,” she hissed. “Gods, they’re gonna have a fun time breaking you.” She shoved his face against the scratchy wood of the deck. “Scarlet! Bring me those tags! And hold him down so I can use both hands!” 

“Is this really necessary?” Erza asked. “You don’t have to—” 

_ “Scarlet! _ Now!” the woman shouted. 

Erza grit her teeth, but snatched the tags in question off a nearby crate and stomped over, throwing them at the woman with much more force than necessary. 

The woman raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been pushing your luck recently, you bitch. Feeling sorry for this thing?” She put even more pressure on Natsu’s head, and he gasped, a dull pain building in his temple. “You magic users always are more loyal to animals like this rather than your own kind.” 

Natsu’s eyes widened.  _ Magic?  _

Erza bared her teeth. “He’s not—!” She shook her head. “Fuck you.” 

“Oh?” The woman offered Erza a wolfish grin. “If you care about him so much, then you do it.” She held the metal tags out. “Tag him. I don’t want his blood on me anyways.” 

Erza’s entire body tensed, just as Natsu’s went limp. She wouldn’t, right? There was no way she was going to stab those tags into his ear, like he was some kind of livestock. He had no idea what they meant, but there were three different ones, likely marking him as someone’s property, he assumed. 

But Erza wouldn’t do that to him. She would refuse; she  _ had _ to. 

“Come on,” the woman urged when Erza didn’t react at all. “You know what will happen if you don’t do as you're told.” 

The redhead’s face paled. “I—” She shot Natsu a pained look, before snatching the tags from the woman’s outstretched hand. 

_ No…  _ Erza wouldn’t do this to him, she  _ wouldn’t!  _ She wasn’t like the others, she was… was… 

Was a human, just like the rest of them. 

Natsu tried to struggle again as Erza kneeled down next to him. His claws sank into the wood, and he tried to force himself up, to rock his head, but the woman pinning him down held firm, hardly allowing him to move at all. 

_ I’m sorry, _ Erza mouthed, and he could see the guilt in her eyes. 

But Natsu didn’t  _ care. _ He snarled at her, and had it not been for the muzzle or the woman holding his head in place, he would have twisted to snap at her hand as she gently grabbed his ear. 

He couldn’t hold back the yelp of pain as the first tag was stabbed through his ear, tearing a hole clean through it. 

Erza gasped. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” 

The other woman scoffed. 

Natsu could feel the blood dripping from his ear and sliding down his neck. And it was cold. Why was his blood so cold? Sure… it’d been a long time since he’d had any fire or slept somewhere warm, but… 

No wonder he felt so weak and slow. 

He could tell Erza tried to be even gentler with the second tag, but it still hurt. How could it  _ not? _ She was tearing holes in his ear! To say nothing of the humiliation of it all. It wasn’t like earrings, not at all. The tags were bigger, heavier, and had to be stabbed straight through the cartilage in the center of his ear to keep the flesh from tearing. 

“We’re gonna have to knock him out for the wing clippings,” the woman groaned. “He’s too goddamn stubborn, if he’s still putting up this much of a fight over  _ this.”  _

Erza stabbed the final tag through his ear, and as pathetic as it was, Natsu whimpered. She’d promised she would help him, would get him out of here, but now she was hurting him just like everyone else had. 

He didn’t fight back at all when the other woman dragged him back to his cage and put the rest of his chains back on. “Now, you stupid fucking dragon, tear the tags out, and we’ll put them right back in. Do it again, and we’ll do it again, and we’ll keep going until you don’t have a fucking ear, and if it comes to that point, I’ll meld them to your fucking skull, got it?” 

Natsu didn’t reply, he just stared at her. The blood was still running down his neck, he could hear the tags jingling against each other, and they were so heavy he could feel his ear being pulled downwards. 

The woman rolled her eyes. “Honestly, even now, I still can’t decide if I think you’re being stubborn or if you really are too stupid to speak.” She shook her head, and walked away. “Clean the blood off your hands, Scarlet. We still expect your normal duties to get done too.” 

As soon as the woman was gone, Erza took a hesitant step towards the cage. “I-I really am sorry, I—” 

Natsu turned away from her. He was done humoring her. He’d heard the people talking, he knew they were leaving tomorrow, and it wasn’t like he’d ever see her again after that. He’d never see her, and she’d just proved everything she talked about meant nothing, that her  _ word _ meant nothing. She promised she’d help him, that she wasn’t like the others, and she’d still done  _ that _ to him. 

Erza sighed, her shoulders slumping. “I know… I should have—” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just please, when I come back tonight, please trust me… just… just for tonight, okay?” 

Natsu narrowed his eyes. Why the hell would he do that? And what the hell was she talking about? Erza was  _ never _ here after dark.

“I promise I’m going to make it up to you,” she swore. 

* * *

Gray sighed into his hands, before rubbing them together, trying to conserve a little bit of warmth. 

It’d been a while since he’d been here, but he’d promised Ultear and Lyon he wouldn’t sleep in the alley while they were gone. He always hated asking to stay with Erza and Makarov, because they always insisted he never leave. They even said Lyon and Ultear could come stay, too. But Gray knew his siblings would never do that, and he didn’t want to either. He didn’t want to burden them like that. 

The sun had just set, so Erza should be getting back from the docks soon, and he’d just come in with her. Despite having a fairly close relationship with Makarov, Gray still felt… awkward being alone with him in his own house. 

“Gray!” 

Gray jerked his head up, and waved as Erza rushed towards him. “Hey, Ultear and Lyon—” 

Erza grabbed the collar of his coat and lifted him off the cobblestone road. “We have to go.  _ Now.” _

“Huh? Go  _ where?” _ he demanded. He’d been ready for a quiet night in, maybe some dinner, and he assumed discussing Erza’s plan to break out the dragon hybrid in a little more detail. 

“The docks. We’re getting the dragon hybrid out tonight,” she said, already dragging him in that direction. 

_ “What!?” _ Gray wrenched himself out of her hold. “Erza! We don’t have a plan! I don’t know anything about this! I can’t—!” 

Erza whirled around to grip his shoulders. “We have to, Gray! We  _ have _ to! They’re gonna— They’re gonna leave tomorrow and then… then we can’t— It  _ has _ to be tonight!” Her voice rang with a desperation that Gray had never heard from her before, and her entire body trembled slightly, though he had no idea if it was from adrenaline or panic. 

“Fuck!” he hissed. He wasn’t about to back out now, he couldn’t, but he needed Erza to understand the risk of what they were about to do, especially now that they didn’t have an actual plan. “Erza, if we get caught—” 

She let go of him to yank one of the knives off her belt. “If someone sees us, then we just have to make sure they can’t tell anyone.” 

“Holy hell! Erza!” It wasn’t that Gray had anything against killing those bastards, not after everything they’d put her through, and what they were doing to this dragon now, but did she actually realize what she was saying? “You’re ready to kill someone over this?” 

She bared her teeth. “They made me hurt him today. Tag him, so everyone would know how much he was worth and who he belonged to. I’m  _ pissed.” _

_ And feeling guilty, _ Gray realized. He could see it in her eyes, in the way that she clenched her jaw. Not that he could blame her. The bastards had probably only made Erza do it because they’d realized how much she cared about the dragon and wanted to torment her. “Okay, but we should still try to… avoid that if we can. We need something to cover our faces with. And you should probably pin your hair up, it’s pretty distinctive.” 

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, obviously trying to calm herself. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna go grab a few things and tell Makarov we’re going to Mira’s so he doesn’t worry. Then we’ll go.” 

“Yeah.” 

* * *

Erza readjusted the black cloth covering the lower half of her face, and for the first time in her life, she was thankful for how cold Magnolia was. It wasn’t strange at all for her and Gray to be rushing down the streets with their faces almost completely covered. No one was going to bat an eye. 

“There’s generally only two or three people on the ship at night,” Erza said. “Hopefully Jellal is one of them, he said he’d try. If we’re lucky, we can slip in and out and avoid them all together, but if we have to fight them… I’m pretty sure we could handle it.” 

Gray grunted, and passed the knife she’d given him from hand to hand. 

“I’m gonna keep watch and cause a distraction if we need it, I need you to actually get the dragon hybrid out. You can freeze through metal, right?” 

“I should be able to, yeah,” he said. “Worst case scenario, I’ll have to pick the locks with ice. It’ll take a little longer, but I could do it.” 

Erza nodded. This was the first, and probably the last time, that she was glad Gray was a thief. That skillset was definitely coming in handy right now. 

“He’s… He can be aggressive,” she warned. “And what happened today probably isn’t going to help. I doubt he’ll even come close to ever trusting me again, but I’m hoping he won’t try and attack you.” 

“Yeah, I’m not looking to get mauled tonight,” Gray grumbled. 

“We can do this,” Erza said, more to herself than Gray. “We can. We  _ can.” _

* * *

Gray slid Erza’s knife into his boot. He didn’t actually need it to defend himself, but he knew Erza was just trying to protect him by giving him the weapon, in her own strange way. He hated letting her go onto that ship alone, but she had insisted. 

She wanted to see how many people were there, as well as find out if Jellal had managed to stay, and it’d be easier for her to explain herself if she was caught if she were alone. Gray knew she was right, but it still made him nervous. 

This was crazy. It was crazy when they were actually going to take the time to plan, but now… 

Even  _ if _ this somehow went off without a hitch, what were they going to do with the dragon after they helped him escape? Hide him in Erza’s fucking house? Gray sincerely doubted that would go very well, for a number of reasons. 

He’d never felt so tense in his life, and he could feel ice forming on his fingertips, his magic reacting to the stress. It wasn’t a big deal. The docks were deserted, everyone on Magnolia getting home as soon as the sun set, not wanting to be out in the biting cold of the night. 

Which was good for them. Less witnesses to worry about. 

Gray perked up as he saw two figures leaving the ship, and he wiped his hands on his pants, trying to brush off the ice. 

“Jellal’s here,” Erza said as they approached. 

“Hello, Gray,” Jellal said, offering him a small wave. 

Gray didn’t return it, opting to give Erza his full attention. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to forgive Jellal for his hand in these people finding out about Erza’s magic. “What’s he doing here?” 

“There’s two other people on the ship tonight,” Jellal said. “I’ll do my best to keep them distracted in the cabin. They’re already drinking and getting tipsy, but there won’t be much I can do if you make a commotion.” 

“Help us fight,” Gray muttered. 

Jellal narrowed his eyes, but didn’t rise to the bait. “If you’re going to do this, you might as well get going.” 

* * *

It was the coldest night of the season by far, and Natsu was feeling it. He didn’t think he could even get up if he wanted to. He was beyond drowsy, and it took everything in him just to keep his eyes open, but he was worried if he fell asleep, that he wouldn’t wake back up. Gods, did these people truly not realize that he was  _ freezing _ to death? He thought they wanted him alive! He hadn’t been given any warm clothing, no fire, not even the opportunity to bask in the sunlight. All he had were these metal chains, sucking what little warmth that remained away. 

His ear twitched as he heard footsteps approaching, those damned tags tinkling together with the movement. 

_ Strange, _ he thought. No one ever bothered to check on him throughout the night, and the merchants had gotten tired of staring at him days ago. He was no longer interesting to them, just some more goods to be sold. 

Then he realized he didn’t recognize the scent of the person approaching, which was even stranger. He thought he’d seen every person that worked on this ship. Surely he hadn’t missed one. 

He tried to sit up, but his body reacted and moved so slowly that he quickly gave up. What was the point anyways? He’d just lie here until he was dragged out for his next bodily mutilation, before he was finally sold to whoever had decided they wanted to own him. 

“Shit, are you even alive?” 

Natsu blinked. He didn’t recognize the voice either, and his curiosity got the best of him. He managed to twist around, halfway rolling over so he could see the new person. 

“Gods, you look rough,” the man said, reaching up to pull down the black fabric hiding the lower half of his face. “Name’s Gray, and Erza sent me to get you out of here.” 

Natsu stared at him, the words taking a moment to fully click into place, and then his eyes widened. 

Erza really…? Where was she? Was she here? 

“Yeah, so don’t kill me after I get you out of here,” Gray said as he grabbed the bars of the cage. “Though I don’t think you could handle killing a mouse right now.” 

Natsu growled at that. He was more than capable of killing anything at any time! Ignoring the fact that he hadn’t even been able to sit up a moment ago. 

Gray hushed him. “We gotta be quiet. Erza’s watching our backs, but she won’t be able to do shit if we’re loud.” 

So Erza  _ was _ here. Natsu still couldn’t believe she was actually coming through. Honestly, he’d started to think all of her talk about breaking him out was more meant to make her feel less guilty about not doing more for him. 

“Alright, here we go.” Gray tightened his hold on the bars of the cage, and a thick coating of ice crawled over the metal. 

Natsu  _ forced _ himself to sit up so he could lean closer to the bars, watching with fascination as the ice sprang from the man’s fingertips. He’d never seen ice magic before. Actually… he’d never seen _human_ magic before. It was… different, to say the least. He leaned even closer, sniffing at the ice, and wishing the muzzle was gone so the different scents weren’t marred by the constant tang of metal. 

Gray’s eyes flicked towards Natsu, but only for a second before he focused on his ice again. “Erza says you don’t talk. She thinks you can, but that you just won’t.” 

Natsu stared at him, an anxiety beginning to flood through his chest. If they were caught, gods knew what would happen. Not just to Erza, or Gray, but Natsu was sure he’d be on the receiving end of punishment as well. 

“Can’t say I blame you,” Gray continued. “What, in a shithole like this. But after we get you out of here, I know she’d love to hear your voice.” He yanked on the bars, and the metal gave with a soft  _ snap. _

A soft noise of surprise escaped Natsu, and he managed to lean even closer. He hadn’t known ice could do that! 

Gray smirked, and swung the cage door open, now that the locks keeping it closed were gone. “There we go. Now come here, I gotta get all those chains off you.” 

Natsu tensed, and pulled back on instinct. 

Gray’s expression softened. “I promise I’m not gonna hurt you.” He reached his hand out. “The cold might sting a bit when I freeze the chains off, but I’ll do it as fast as I can.” 

Natsu knew he had to let him. He couldn’t afford to refuse this, or else he’d never get out of here, and he knew Gray was telling the truth. But he still… Even  _ Erza _ had hurt him today, and she’d always been so kind. 

“Alright, here we go,” Gray said. He moved slow enough that Natsu could always see what he was doing, and did nothing without some kind of warning. He froze through the chains binding Natsu’s wings first, and while the cold did sting, it was worth the utter  _ relief _ Natsu felt as he was able to stretch his wings again for the first time in  _ days. _

After his wings were free, Gray moved on to the chains around his ankles that kept him shackled to the bars of the cage, and then the muzzle was finally removed. Permanently, Natsu hoped. 

“Now,” Gray said. “Be honest. Can you walk on your own, or do you need help?” 

Despite it all, Natsu couldn’t bring himself to admit he needed help. Not necessarily because he was ashamed (after all, he’d already had to rely on this human that he didn’t know at all to get him out of here), but he couldn’t stomach the thought of Gray’s hands all over him, holding on to him. He never wanted to be touched by a human ever again, if he could help it. So he dragged himself out of the cage, and forced himself up on shaky legs, his wings fluttering to help balance him. 

Gray raised an eyebrow, but thankfully didn’t insist on helping Natsu. “Alright, we need to get going. I’d rather not be here any longer than we need to—” 

Natsu tried taking a step, but between the cold, and his weakened muscles, his legs buckled. He automatically tried grabbing the closest thing to catch himself, which happened to be a little crate on top of another one. He yelped as it did nothing to support his weight, only falling to the floor with him. 

Between the crate falling, the shattering of the chains and cage as Natsu flailed, and his own body hitting the floor, the crash and thump that followed was loud enough he whined. 

Gray winced. “Oh fuck.” 

* * *

Erza’s entire body went rigid as she heard the crash. What the hell was Gray  _ doing? _ There was  _ no way _ the merchants hadn’t heard that! 

She flicked her fingers, causing her favorite sword to appear in her hand, and made sure her makeshift mask covered as much of her face as possible. 

Lantern light exploded over the deck of the ship, and she heard grumbling voices demanding to know what the hell that was. 

She could hide, and hope that they just decided not to check below deck. 

But that wasn’t a risk she could take. Not with Salamander's life on the line, and  _ certainly _ not Gray’s. 

She shifted her weight, falling back into a fight stance, her sword held at the ready. 

She was going to kill them. She  _ had _ to. If she didn’t, they would chase after them, possibly alert the whole village, and then they would never have a chance at getting Salamander out of here, and her and Gray’s magic would be exposed. 

Sure, she’d told Gray she would kill them if she had to, but it was a different thing altogether to actually be confronted with the task. 

She hadn’t ever killed anyone before, despite the nature of her magic. 

She heard the merchants shouting, and she knew they’d spotted her. Jellal chased after them as they ran towards her, trying to tell them to stop—

Erza grabbed a knife from her belt, and flung it at one of them. The weapon sank into her neck, and the woman fell to her knees with a pathetic gasp, followed by a gurgling wheeze. 

“Erza!” Jellal gasped, before slapping his hand over his mouth as he realized what he’d just said. 

But it wasn’t like it mattered. She had to kill the second one, and then they were in the clear. She reached to pull another knife from her belt. 

“Erza, get down!” Gray shouted. 

Erza threw herself to the deck, just in time for a blast of ice to shoot over her, hitting the remaining, beyond stunned, merchant in the chest. He dropped like a stone, the ice greedily spreading across his body, freezing him solid. 

“Fuck.” Erza let go of her sword and fell to her knees. She looked over her shoulder to see Gray staring at the two dead bodies with wide eyes. 

_ We just killed two people. We just killed  _ two people! 

“Oh my gods.” Erza fell forward, just barely catching herself with her hands. Sure, they were awful, terrible people, but they still… 

She shook her head. They  _ were _ terrible people. They’d been threatening and blackmailing her for years now, and they’d tried to sell someone as  _ property.  _ This wasn’t something to feel guilty over. 

“You were supposed to get in and out with no one noticing!” Jellal exclaimed. “How the hell are we—” He snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. “One of you knock me out, rough me up a bit.” 

“Huh?” What the hell was he talking about? 

“It’s gonna look real fucking bad for me in the morning if I’m here with two dead bodies, no dragon, and am perfectly fine,” he said. “You’re gonna have to knock me out.” 

“I don’t wanna do that!” Erza argued, staggering back to her feet. 

“Dear gods.” Gray marched towards Jellal, pointedly not looking at the two corpses sprawled across the deck, and punched Jellal across the jaw. 

Jellal's head snapped to the side, then he crumpled into a heap next to the two bodies. 

“You were way too eager for that,” Erza accused. 

“Damn right I was,” Gray said. “I’ve wanted to punch him ever since he fucked you over.” 

Erza sighed and shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to get into that. They needed to get Salamander, and then get out of here. While there were still hours before anyone else came to the ship, she’d rather they put as much distance between this ship and themselves as possible. “Where is he? What happened?” 

Gray rolled his eyes. “Idiot was too stubborn to accept any help, so he fell and took half the fucking cargo with him. Let’s go get him and get out of here.” 

“Yeah…” Erza spared the bodies one last look, before turning and heading below deck. 

* * *

Somehow, Gray felt nothing over the person he’d just killed. 

He wouldn’t lie. He’d fantasized about hurting the people who had done this to Erza quite a few times, but he’d never thought he would actually kill one of them. 

He was sure what he’d just done would actually register and affect him at a later date, but that was a problem for then, not now. 

Now… they had a dragon to take care of. 

The dragon, or Salamander, as Erza referred to him, had managed to get back to his feet and stagger towards the stairs by the time Gray and Erza got back below the deck. 

Gray still couldn’t get over how… pretty the dragon was. Sure, he was scrawny and malnourished and exhausted and covered in dried blood, but he… well, he was enamoring. Those piercing green eyes, the shimmering scales on his wings, his sharp features. Erza had never bothered to describe what the dragon actually looked like to Gray, but damn. He couldn’t help but wonder what he might look like once he was cleaned up and healthier. 

“Hey, there,” Erza greeted, flashing Salamander a smile. “I told you I would get you out of here.” 

_ Come on, _ Gray thought.  _ Say something.  _ He knew Erza was right. Obviously Salamander could understand them, so why the hell wouldn’t he actually speak? 

But all he did was offer Erza a smile, showing off huge fangs that Gray couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed earlier. 

“Come on,” Erza urged. “Let’s go.” She reached out to help him up the stairs, but his smile quickly turned to a snarl, and she pulled her hand back. “Right… Sorry.” 

Gray glanced at the metal tags dangling from the dragon’s mutilated, pointed ear. Part of him understood the creature’s wariness after something like that, but Erza had just helped him escape this hellhole. Surely that was enough to make up for that. At least somewhat. 

Salamander stumbled up the stairs, but each step was more confident than the last, less wobbly, like he’d just needed a few minutes to get used to walking again. 

Which made sense. If he’d really been trapped in that cramped cage for most of the time he’d been here, the dragon wouldn’t have been able to do much more than stretch. 

As soon as they got back above deck, Salamander’s gaze zeroed in on the bodies, a deep growl rumbling from his chest. 

“It’s okay,” Erza assured him, reaching out, but careful not to actually touch him. “They’re… they’re dead. They can’t do anything else to you.” 

Salamander relaxed, but only marginally. 

Gray had to bite back a sigh, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this dragon had always been so wary and mistrusting, or if this whole situation was responsible for making him that way. 

“Okay,” Erza said. “We need to get you somewhere safe, where they can’t find you again. I… I suppose we could hide you at my house until we find somewhere more suitable.” 

Gray was about to warn Erza that that might not be the best idea, for several reasons, when Salamander stumbled back a step, wildly shaking his head. 

“Well we have to put you  _ somewhere,” _ Erza insisted. 

The dragon’s wings snapped out. 

“Shit!” Gray lunged to grab him, because if he fled back to wherever he’d been when he’d ended up captured, they’d just end up in the mess all over again, but he wasn’t nearly fast enough. 

Salamander sprang into the sky, moving with much more speed than Gray would have thought possible, even if he wasn’t injured and exhausted. He disappeared into the fog and dark sky within seconds. 

Erza threw her head back and groaned, a worried expression overtaking her features. 

“Are you fucking  _ kidding _ me!?” Gray demanded. 

“Come on.” Erza grabbed his hand and tugged her after him, though she kept throwing glances towards the sky, like she was hoping the dragon might come back. “Let’s get out of here.” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the nice comments on this fic! I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad you're all enjoying it so much!

“This your knife, Scarlet?” 

Erza glared at the man brandishing her blood stained knife. She couldn’t afford to lose her cool or react in any suspicious way. “You know how much I care for my knives. I wouldn’t just leave one lying around somewhere.” 

Certainly not left in the neck of the person she’d killed. 

“Come on,” she said,  _ praying _ that there was nothing in her expression to give her away. “If you’re going to accuse me, accuse me.” She couldn’t stop the smirk from spreading across her lips, and she hoped that it was interpreted as confidence that they couldn’t pin the blame on her, not pride stemming from the fact that she’d gotten the dragon away from these people. 

The merchant rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Like you could pull something like that off.” He turned away, grumbling something about how the person responsible had ice magic anyways. 

Erza let out a breath of relief. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe she was completely in the clear yet, but at least they weren’t dragging her into town and screaming all about her magic. 

* * *

Gray spent the entire day at the docks, staring at the ship that Erza worked on. Realistically, he knew there was going to be nothing he could do to help her if the bastards decided to blame her for what happened, but he still felt better being nearby. Besides, what else did he have to be doing anyways? 

He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the dragon fleeing from them like that either. Gray supposed he couldn’t blame him. Chances were if he had been in that situation, he’d run, too. Salamander had been hurt, and scared, and he’d had a shot at freedom, so he’d taken it. 

But Gray was worried. The merchants were going to scour the island for him now that they knew he existed. They weren’t just going to let that amount of money go, no way in hell. And as weak, injured, and sickly as the dragon was, there was no way he had managed to get very far, and there was definitely no way he would be able to defend himself should the merchants find him again. 

Gray sighed and rubbed his temples, deciding not to dwell on it, if he could help it. Erza had mentioned maybe trying to find Salamander themselves, offer him what help they could, but Gray didn’t see much of a point. If he didn’t want their help last night, there was no reason he would accept it if they found him again. 

“Gray? The hell are  _ you _ doin’ out here?” 

Gray glanced up. “Me? The hell are  _ you _ doing out here, Cana? Actually looking for a real job?” Dock workers and sailors were pretty much the only people willing to hire the likes of them, and that was just because they would hire literally anyone. 

Cana gave him a blank stare, before snorting with laughter. “As if anyone would hire me at this point.” She placed her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “Seriously, though. Thought you were leaving with your siblings on a job.” 

Gray shrugged. “They went without me.” 

Cana raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Still doesn’t tell me what you’re doing out here.” 

Gray looked back towards the ship Erza was on. “Waiting on Erza.” 

_ “Oh?” _ Cana smirked, before pushing Gray over so she could sit next to him on the crate. “This is new, you following her to work.” 

“Oh don’t start,” he groaned. He really wasn’t in the mood for Cana’s teasing today, not after everything that had happened last night. 

“Are you  _ ever _ gonna ask her out?” the brunette asked, leaning even closer and slinging her arm over his shoulders. 

“No,” Gray said, his voice clipped. 

“Lame.” She let go of him, and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees, letting her hair fall into her face. “You should, you know. Before someone else beats you to it.” 

Gray scoffed. No one except Mirajane had ever asked Erza out, and he sincerely doubted anyone else was going to. Most people were terrified of her, and thanks to Cana and Mirajane’s gossiping nature, he knew exactly who of his friends were interested in who, and no one was looking to get involved with Erza. 

Besides, she had too much going on in her life to be seriously interested in dating. That was why she’d broken up with Mirajane, after all. 

The fucking assholes she worked for had taken a lot of things away from her. 

“Unless you’re  _ scared,” _ Cana teased. 

Gray rolled his eyes. “That why you haven’t asked Mira out?” 

She stuck her tongue out at him, but didn’t retaliate more than that. “Honestly, though. You’ve been tailing after her for years now.” 

“I’ve never even said I liked her like that,” Gray pointed out. “To you, or anyone else.” 

Cana shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s obvious. I think everyone knows  _ except _ you two.” Then she shook her head. “But whatever. Do what you want. And I’m here because there’s supposed to be some ships stopping to resupply here today, and I’m hoping I can make a little money off the sailors.” 

“Cana,” Gray warned. 

“Look, I gotta eat somehow,” she grumbled. “And most of the time they just think it’s slight of hand, some stupid little card trick.” 

“You’re gonna get yourself killed,” he told her. “You almost  _ did _ not that long ago! You—!” He snapped his mouth shut. He and Erza had just broken onto a cargo ship and broken out a dragon, killing two people in the process. What right did he have to tell Cana to be careful? “Whatever. Do what you want. Just… try not to out yourself.” 

“Please.” Cana stood up and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coat. “As if I’d ever get caught.” 

* * *

“Gray, you didn’t seriously sit here all day waiting for me, did you?” Erza asked when she found him in the same place she’d left him that morning. He’d insisted on walking her to work, wanting to make sure everything went fine this morning and that she wasn’t accused of anything, but she hadn’t thought he’d really stay here all day. 

He shrugged. “Not like I had anything else to do.” 

“It’s cold out here,” she said. 

“It’s cold everywhere.” 

Erza sighed and shook her head. “Well whatever. “Come on. Let’s get home.” 

* * *

One day passed. Then two. Then three. Before Erza knew it, a whole week had gone by since the escape. And Salamander hadn’t been found. The merchants were searching all over for him, but she didn’t think they’d gone out into the deep woods of the island, which was probably a good thing. 

Maybe Salamander had fled the island. Maybe he was just really good at hiding. Whatever the case, Erza was just glad that he wasn’t back here. 

Although, she felt sad knowing she might never see him again. She didn’t have the time to exactly go out looking for him in the deep woods, so it was probably a good thing that she didn’t see him. She didn’t want him close to the village at all, for his own sake. 

Gray had finally quit following her to work two days ago, believing that she wasn’t going to be accused of breaking Salamander out and being dragged into town for a public hanging now. It wasn’t that she minded him walking her to and from work, but she did feel guilty over him sitting out at the docks all day without anything to do. 

She didn’t know what he was up to today, Makarov said he’d left before she had this morning. Hopefully he was just catching up with one of their other friends, and not off trying to steal something. She didn’t know of him attempting any thefts without the help of Lyon or Ultear, but she wouldn’t put it past him to try. 

But that being said, she had no idea where he might be, and she had quite a bit of time before sunset today. It was rare to be let off early, but it had happened more often than not the past week, while everyone was out searching for the dragon, as Erza wasn’t trusted to be alone with the merchandise. Honestly, she was surprised they didn’t drag her out there to search with them. 

She suspected that they all blamed her for Salamander’s escape, but just had no way to pin it on her. Sure, she might have slipped up and left her knife on the ship, but they had no way to prove it had been hers, and thankfully none of them had ever paid enough attention to her weapons to be able to say it was hers for sure. So maybe that was the reason they didn’t make her search with them. Maybe they assumed even if she found the dragon, she’d just let him go again. 

Well, they weren't wrong about that. 

But that still meant she had some spare time in between the end of her shift, and when Makarov expected her back. She could always go visit Levy and Lucy, or the Strausses. It’d been a while since she’d actually spent some down time with them. 

But instead, she found herself wandering out of the village, and into the woods. 

It’d been a long time since she’d been able to just go out to the woods, and be completely and utterly alone. Ever since her magic had been discovered, she simply hadn’t had the free time. The thicker the trees and undergrowth became, the faster she walked, eagerly tapping her fingers against the swords and knives dangling from her belt. The more distance she put between herself and the village, the more excited she became. 

The woods was the only place to safely practice magic on a large scale. The deeper she went, the less likely there were to be people. Most were afraid of the forest, believing the legends and whispers of ancient beings wandering it. 

Though… given the appearance of Salamander, Erza supposed it may be entirely possible for the woods to be filled with the old races. 

Maybe that was why Erza always felt so at ease out here, why her magic felt so free. Away from normal humans, in the wilderness, magic was more at home. 

But she reminded herself she couldn’t go too far. She still had to get back by sundown, or Makarov would worry. Not to mention Gray, if he was back by then. 

However, she couldn’t come this far into the forest and not use at least a  _ little _ magic. 

She drew one of her knives from her belt, twirling it between her fingers. 

The merchants kept her around now  _ because _ of her magic. They said it was good for security, that it was brutal and meant for killing. 

Erza wasn’t entirely sure about  _ that, _ but she knew her magic could be dangerous. Briefly, when she was younger, she’d mistakenly believed that she’d had telekinesis abilities, and so had Makarov. Until they realized that her magic only worked on weapons, specifically bladed weapons. 

It was strange. While it wasn’t  _ unheard _ of for someone to have such specific magic, (Cana had her card magic, after all), Erza did sometimes wonder why she was only given control over weapons. She’d learned to be versatile with it, but she still felt limited at times. 

She was able to summon them from thin air if she so desired, but it was easier to control a weapon that was already near, hence why she kept so many on her person. Sometimes the people of the village wondered why she always had so many blades on her, and she always told them they were for her job, and if that didn’t placate them, she showed off any little tricks she could: twirling her swords, throwing her knives. They always liked when she performed for them. 

But unlike Cana, Erza never actually used her magic to do so. She couldn’t handle the guilt over what Makarov would go through if she were caught doing magic. 

Well… caught by everyone else as well as the people she worked for. 

She sighed, and let go of the knife, twitching her fingers until it hovered above her palm. 

Sometimes she wished she had a more useful magic, like Gray, Ultear, and Lyon’s ice, or the Strausses’ transformation magic, or Levy’s writing magic. But all she’d gotten was her control over blades. 

With a flick of her fingers, the knife flew through the air, embedding itself in a tree trunk, sinking all the way to the hilt. 

She pulled another knife from her belt, searching for her next inanimate target. 

A tree branch snapped, the undergrowth just behind her rustling ever so slightly. 

Erza whirled around, readjusting the knife in her hold for a better attacking angle, her mind racing through all the possible threats in the woods, or what she might need to do if someone had just seen her use magic. 

Salamander stared down at the knife aimed at his throat, a flicker of concern in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared as he offered Erza a wry grin. 

The redhead’s eyes grew wide, and she stumbled back a pace, her hand falling back to her side, the knife dangling loosely from her fingers. She’d honestly started to believe that she would never see the dragon again, so to be confronted with him so suddenly… 

“What the hell are you  _ doing _ here!?” she hissed, snapping herself out of her shock. “You need to get away!” She waved her knife at him. “Those bastards are out  _ looking _ for you!” 

Salamander hummed, before cocking his head and pointing to her knife, then gesturing to the tree her other blade was still stuck in. 

“What?” Erza demanded, before realizing that he’d probably been observing her for a while. Was he asking about her magic? “My magic?” 

The dragon nodded eagerly. 

“I uh… well, I can control weapons, knives and swords, mostly,” she replied. She waved her hand, and the knife ripped itself out of the tree to fly back to her hand. “But that’s about it.” 

Salamander blinked, ever so slowly, before nodding, like he was accepting the answer. 

Erza stared at him, trying to decide what she even wanted to  _ say. _ “You’re looking better,” she finally decided. And he was! The dark circles that had been smudged beneath his eyes were gone, his cheeks weren’t so hollow, the blood had been long since washed off, he was in a fresh set of clothes, even his scales seemed to have a shine that they hadn’t before. 

The tags on his ear were gone as well, and Erza realized with a pang that there were three little notches where they had once been. Likely, he’d torn them out, ripping his skin and cartilage away with them, as they hadn’t been meant to be removed. Except… the wounds were completely healed, which didn’t make sense. He’d torn three gashes through his ear, a week ago at  _ most, _ and they were healed? 

But Erza decided not to dwell on it. Perhaps dragon hybrids could heal quicker than humans, when they were sleeping and eating properly, that is. 

Salamander shrugged in response to her observation. 

“Still won’t talk to me, I see. Is there… a particular reason? Or… Or am I wrong? Can you really just not talk?” she asked. She’d assumed he hadn’t spoken to her on the ship out of self defense, or perhaps even stubbornness, but it was just the two of them out here now. Surely there had to be some other reason. 

Salamander didn’t offer her any kind of answer, not even a gesture or a noise. He just stepped closer, so close they were nearly touching, but not  _ quite. _

“Uh…” Erza fought the urge to take a step back, not used to being in such close proximity to people she didn’t know well, but if this was some display of trust, she didn’t want to ruin it. “Can I help you with something?” 

The dragon leaned closer, and took in a deep breath through his nose. 

_ He’s… sniffing me?  _ Erza realized. He’d done something similar on the ship a few times, but he’d never gotten as close as he was now. 

“Well I’m glad you’re alright,” she said, deciding to stand as still as possible until he backed away. “Though I am serious. You should be careful. Those people will do whatever they can to get you back, and if that happens, they’ll watch you a lot closer. I doubt me and Gray would be able to… you know… get you out again.” 

Something warm and wet pressed against Erza’s cheek. 

On instinct, Erza dropped her knives, jerked back, and punched Salamander in the nose.

The dragon yelped and fell backwards, not prepared at all for the force of the blow. He forced himself into a sitting position, his wings curling around him, as he lifted one hand to his nose to try and catch the blood dripping from it. 

A fraction of a second later, Erza realized that he had  _ licked _ her, and while she didn’t know a whole lot about dragons, based on any other animal in existence— “I’m so sorry!” she gasped. “I didn’t mean to, I just— Oh my gods.” 

Blood trickled beneath Salamander’s fingers, and his shoulders shook as a strange noise escaped him, some mix between purring, snickering, and growling. 

“Are you  _ laughing _ at me!?” Erza shrieked. “For  _ punching _ you!?” She clenched her fists, raising them like she wanted to punch him again. “You bastard, you—you were doing that to antagonize me!” 

The laughter abruptly cut off, and he looked away, his smile disappearing again. 

“Well it worked,” Erza grumbled, rubbing at her cheek with the back of her hand, trying to wipe the saliva away. “I thought you didn’t like me anymore.” 

His expression darkened, and he shot back to his feet, before reaching to touch at the notches left in his ear, but his hand fell just before his fingers brushed the wounds. 

Guilt rushed through Erza, and she opened her mouth to apologize again, when he rushed forward, taking her hands in his own. His claws delicately scraped her skin, but he was careful not to actually cut her. 

“Oh…” He’d always been so reluctant to let her touch him, so for him to initiate contact himself… 

Salamander let go of one of her hands, and grabbed something that had been tucked into the waistband of his pants, and pressed it into her free hand. 

“Wha—” 

He let go of her, backing away a few paces, and spread his wings, their brilliant red scales catching the dying rays of the sun. 

“Wait! Please!” Erza lurched forward. “You can’t just go! I—” 

She was buffeted with a blast of air as he took off, narrowly avoiding the trees as he wove through them with a nimbleness that Erza hadn’t expected. 

“Will I see you again!?” Erza shouted, just before he disappeared amongst the trees. “Dammit,” she muttered, hanging her head. She hadn’t even thought to try to convince him to leave the island for his own safety. 

She curled her fingers tighter, forgetting she still held whatever it was Salamander had given her. She glanced down, finding a small, golden sheath, covered in glittering jewels. “Oh…” Gingerly, she took the hilt of the tiny blade, pulling it out of the sheath. It was only a couple inches long, just as golden as the sheath it came in. 

Honestly, it was a useless knife, meant to be ornamental. She had no idea if Salamander knew that or not, but… 

The gesture was touching either way. She had no idea where he’d gotten something like this, but he’d realized how much her knives meant to her, and given her a new one. 

Erza smiled, clipped the blade to her belt, grabbed the two blades she'd dropped, and turned back towards the village. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the lovely comments on the last chapter! I hope you all enjoy this one just as much

“You’re back a little late,” Makarov said as Erza crept inside, trying to let as little of the cold in as possible. 

“Sorry, I got off early and went for a walk in the woods, lost track of time,” she said, before breathing into her hands and rubbing them together, trying to warm them back up. Winter was setting in faster than usual, and they’d probably have their first big snow soon. 

“Oh, it’s been a while since you’ve done that,” he said. “But I’m glad you’ve gotten some more free time lately. I really do think that job is overworking you.” 

Erza did her best to smile. “It’s not so bad.” Makarov had no idea why she was always working so much, and as long as Erza had a say in it, he was  _ never _ going to find out. He would feel  _ awful, _ and he’d been through so much with Laxus already… “Is Gray here?” 

Makarov set his mug down. “Ah, yes. He got back about an hour ago, he’s upstairs. Probably asleep, he looked exhausted.” 

Erza frowned at that. What the hell had Gray been doing today? “Okay… Do you want me to make dinner tonight?” 

“Oh no, dear, I’ll take care of that. Go check on Gray, would you? I do wish he’d just stay here with us all the time…” 

“You and me both,” Erza muttered. “But you know he won’t. He’ll be back out on the streets the second Lyon and Ultear come back.” She shrugged her coat off, hanging it on the hook by the door. 

“Yes, I know.” He sighed and shook his head. “I tried talking about it with him earlier, but he wouldn’t even entertain the idea. Stubborn boy.” 

“Yeah… I’ll go see if he’s awake,” she said. 

* * *

Gray groaned and laid his arm across his face as he heard Erza marching up the steps. It had to be Erza, no one else stomped around like that. She was going to demand where he’d been all day, maybe pester him some more about moving in like Makarov had earlier, and he really wasn’t in the mood for that. 

“Gray!” she exclaimed as she threw the bedroom door open. “Are you awake?” 

“If I wasn’t before, I am now,” he grumbled, still not bothering to sit up. Truth be told, he hadn’t actually fallen asleep at all. He’d just used being tired as an excuse to escape Makarov’s insistence that he move in. 

“We’ve told you you could stay in Laxus’s old room so you could have your own bed,” Erza said, and Gray felt the bed dip as she sat down next to him. 

“That’s… weird… I’d rather just sleep with you.” He forced himself to sit up and drug his hand down his face. “Even if you do lay on top of me all night.” Gray knew she only suggested it for his own sake. After all, Erza had shared a room, and bed, with Cana for years before the brunette had finally moved out, and he was the one who always complained about how she cuddled him too tightly, even if he secretly did like it. 

Erza shrugged. “Alright then. What were you doing today?” 

“Looking for Lyon and Ultear. They were supposed to be back today.” 

“Oh… I’m guessing you didn’t find them, since you’re back here,” she said. 

“No.” He could admit it made him a little nervous, them not being back when they said they would be. But he was sure they were fine, and had probably just gotten delayed trying to find a ship back or something. They wouldn’t get  _ caught. _ “But I wouldn’t just leave without telling you guys.” 

Erza hummed, before patting his shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon. They always are.” 

“Yeah…” 

“But something good happened to me today!” she exclaimed, and Gray finally realized how she was practically vibrating with excitement. He hadn’t seen her eyes so bright in a long time now. 

“What?” he asked, trying to figure out what the hell she could possibly be talking about. 

She pulled a tiny knife off her belt, not one that Gray had ever seen before. “Look at this!” 

“Holy shit! Is that  _ gold?” _ he demanded, delicately taking the knife from her hand and pulling it out of its bejeweled sheath. 

She nodded. “I think so. But you’ll never guess how I got it!” 

“You didn’t steal it from the ship, did you?” Obviously, Gray had nothing against stealing, certainly not from  _ those _ people, but given everything that had happened recently, he doubted now was the time for such things. 

Erza shook her head. “No! No, Salamander gave it to me!” 

“Sala—  _ what!?” _ he shouted, staring at the knife with wide eyes. “When!? Where the hell did  _ he _ get this?” 

She shrugged and shook her head. “No idea. But I got off early and decided to go for a walk in the woods, and… and he was just  _ there. _ Gray, he looks  _ so _ much better already. He still wouldn’t talk to me… but he did lick me!” 

Gray blinked. “He… licked you?” 

“Right on the cheek!” she exclaimed with a smile, and she pointed to her cheek. “Do you think that means he forgives me for… you know… the tags?” 

“Uh…” Gray frowned and handed the knife back to her, trying to wrap his head around what she was even saying. “I don’t… I guess? I don’t exactly know a lot about dragons, you probably know more than me. But I’m glad he’s alright. Did you tell him to get off Magnolia?” So long as he was still here, he’d probably always be in danger now that people knew he existed. 

Erza’s smile faded. “No, he ran again before I could.” 

He hummed. Obviously, Salamander had to have been searching for Erza. He’d wanted to give her that knife, and he’d approached her the second she actually left the village. Even if he didn’t necessarily  _ forgive _ her, he seemed to be grateful. “Well, there’s not much you can do about that, then. But at least he’s doing better, from the sound of it.” Maybe he hadn’t been as weak and sick as Gray had thought. 

“I want to find him again,” Erza said. 

“Oh my gods,  _ Erza.” _ Gray nearly groaned. “He was only this close to the village because he was  _ looking _ for you, and now that he gave you his knife, told you thank you in his own weird way, so he might not even be around anymore. And… and when would you even want to do this? I mean… I guess  _ I _ could go while you’re working—” 

“No, I want to go, too. And I already thought about that. We can go to the deep woods,” she said. “That’s where he has to be, right? No one ever goes out there, that has to be how he went undetected for so long!” 

“People  _ die _ out there!” he exclaimed. 

“We have our magic!” she argued. “And… and a dragon, if we find him! We’ll be perfectly fine! We can go tomorrow, after I get off work. I’ll tell Makarov we’re staying with Levy and Lucy.” 

“At  _ night? _ Erza!” Gray shook his head. She’d had some crazy, impulsive ideas in the past, but this was easily one of the worst. 

“He… I don’t know, Gray. I can’t just forget about him, something about him… Not to mention we need to tell him to get somewhere safer,” she said. 

“I…” Weirdly, Gray kind of understood what she meant. He’d only interacted with Salamander once, but he still wanted to see him again. “Fine. But if I die out in those woods, I’m blaming you.” 

* * *

Erza… might be starting to regret her insistence that they do this as soon as possible. Her entire body was trembling, even her thickest clothing unable to keep the chill at bay. Even Gray was shaking, and he was far more used to the cold than her, thanks to his magic. The sun had set an hour ago, and the already freezing temperature had dropped by at least twenty degrees. 

“Okay, m-maybe this was a mistake,” she admitted as her teeth began to chatter. 

“It’s at least two hours back,” Gray pointed out. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this cold, not to mention windy.” He reached up to pull his hood down, trying to cover as much of his face as possible. His cheeks and nose were bright red, even his lips were starting to turn blue. 

Erza looked up towards the sky, getting mildly worried by how dark it was. There was no moonlight at all. Sure, the tree branches were bound to block out some of the light, but all of it? Was it just cloudy? Gods, she hoped it was only cloudy and it wasn’t a storm rolling in. “Do you think we should go back?” 

Gray pressed closer to her, trying to use body heat to keep warm. “I mean, we’re already out here, we might as well go at least a little further.” 

“This was stupid,” Erza muttered. “We don’t even know how to track… we’re just… just wandering around out in the woods. We’re not gonna find him.” 

“No,” Gray agreed. “We were never going to. The only way we’re gonna see him again, is if he decides he wants to see us.” 

* * *

Natsu fluttered down to rest on a tree branch, his frown deepening as he watched Erza and Gray walk through the forest, their steps slow and awkward as they pressed close together, desperately trying to keep warm. Why weren’t they  _ turning around? _ Going back to the village they lived in? Could they not smell the storm on the wind? Already, flurries of snow were starting to fall, but Natsu could sense that it was likely to turn into a blizzard. It wasn’t  _ safe _ out here for them. 

He’d been following them for about an hour now, listening to them mutter and complain about the freezing cold. 

Honestly, Natsu could not explain  _ why _ he was following them. He shouldn’t even be this close to this part of the island. He should have fled back to the deep woods and  _ stayed _ there, but then he’d given Erza her knife, and he just couldn’t get either her or Gray out of his head. 

He readjusted himself on the tree branch, folding his wings behind his back, and crouching down to rest some of his weight on the palms of his hands, sinking his claws into the soft bark. Could they really not sense that he was watching them, following them? Smell him, hear him, even have instincts warning them that a predator was nearby? 

Igneel had told him that human senses were hilariously dull, but Natsu had never suspected that it was  _ this _ bad. It made him even more ashamed of getting caught by them in the first place. 

The snow began to fall thicker, and Natsu began to shiver, the fire blazing through his chest not enough to keep him warm anymore. 

He couldn’t even imagine how cold Gray and Erza were. They had  _ no _ fire inside them. 

“We need to go back,” Gray said, holding his hand out to let the snow fall into his palm. “Erza, you’re gonna freeze out here. It’s getting too cold even for  _ me _ to handle.” 

“Y-Yeah.” Erza held on tighter to Gray, burying her face in his chest. “You’re r-right.” 

Natsu shook himself, knocking away the light dusting of snow that had landed on him. There was no way they were going to make it back to that village before they froze to death. Sure, they might not know that, they had no idea that a blizzard was closing in, but Natsu couldn’t just let them  _ die _ like that. 

He sighed, and accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to be sleeping in his home tonight. If he was right, there was a cave not too far from here, and at least that would be out of the wind and snow, which was the most important thing right now. 

He jumped from the tree branch, spreading his wings to slow his descent and let him land lightly on the ground. 

Gray was too preoccupied with Erza to notice his approach. The ice wizard had unbuttoned his coat so he could hold her closer, and it looked like he was essentially trying to fit both of them inside the garment. 

Natsu didn’t have a coat. He’d never needed one before, his fire always keeping him warm. His time trapped on that ship was the first time the fire in his chest had actually gone out, as he’d burned through all of it when he’d been stuck in the humans’ trap, and obviously they’d not given him any to eat while he was held captive. But now that he had access to fire again, the cold was nothing but a mild nuisance at its worst. 

But now, he wished he had a coat, if only so he could give it to Erza. She looked  _ miserable, _ her entire body shaking and trembling. He needed to get her to shelter fast, before the storm picked up. 

He supposed he could give her his scarf...

He shook his head. No, no he couldn't do that. 

Gray didn’t notice Natsu until he was only a few paces away. 

“Oh, fuck!” he shouted, tightening his hold on Erza and jumping backwards, before he laughed, almost hysterically. “Erza! Look!” 

Erza lifted her head off Gray’s chest, twisting around to look at Natsu. Her eyes lit up as she smiled. “Salamander!” 

Natsu frowned, not liking that she still referred to him the same way the rest of the merchants had. But then again… it wasn’t like he’d told her his real name. Even  _ if _ he trusted her now, he still didn’t trust her enough to… 

If he slipped up and mentioned something—  _ someone _ he shouldn't, and something happened to her, Natsu would never forgive himself. Talking at all still felt dangerous. 

But that didn’t matter right now. The snow continued to fall thicker, and the biting wind was almost painful now. He needed to get them somewhere safer. 

He motioned for them to follow him, before turning and walking in the direction of the cave that he hoped he wasn’t misremembering the location of. 

“You want us to  _ follow _ you?” Gray asked, mistrust creeping into his voice. “In the opposite direction of where we need to go right now?” 

Natsu stopped, looking over his shoulder at him. Did he really not understand how bad of a situation they were in at the moment? 

But he just nodded. 

“Come on, Gray,” Erza urged, pulling out of his hold to follow after Natsu. “I-I d-don’t think we’d make it back to the v-village.” 

Gray narrowed his eyes, but let out a breath. “I know, I know, just…” He took a step towards Natsu. “Alright. I’m trusting you here.” 

* * *

Erza would be surprised if she got out of this without at least a little frostbite. She felt so  _ stupid. _ She really should have considered that a storm might be coming; it was that season after all. And now she and Gray were stuck following a dragon through the forest in a blizzard, hoping he was actually taking them to shelter. 

She’d feel a lot better if Salamander would just  _ talk, _ would tell them where he was taking them, but he still stubbornly refused to speak, despite Gray berating him with questions. 

Finally, after they walked for about another half mile, the snow starting to fall so thick that Erza could scarcely see a few feet in front of her, Salamander perked up, and began rushing, leaving her and Gray struggling to keep up. 

The dragon stopped, glancing back at them, before beginning to pick up any branches and sticks he stumbled across, which helped a little to ease Erza’s anxiety. That had to be for a fire, right? And if he was gathering the things for a fire, that meant they had to be close to wherever he was taking them. 

An outcropping of rocks appeared, blurred by the falling snow, and Salamander turned to smile at them. 

“What?” Gray demanded. “It’s just some rocks!” 

The dragon shook his head, and disappeared around the rocks in question. 

“What…?” Gray gave Erza a questioning look. 

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I b-bet it’s a cave!” Damn, she wished that at the least her teeth would quit chattering. 

“Thank gods…” Gray exhaled, before hurrying to catch up to the dragon, with Erza tailing after him. 

Sure enough, there was a small opening in the rocks, just big enough for a person to fit through. It was pitch black inside, but due to the snow and the lack of moonlight, it wasn’t like it was much better  _ outside. _ And at least inside the cave, they’d be out of the snow and wind. 

“Go on,” Gray urged. “I’ll be right after you.” 

Erza nodded, and squeezed into the opening. The rocks themselves were  _ freezing, _ but she already felt better being out of the wind.

She felt the cave open up around her, even if she couldn’t tell exactly how big it was due to the darkness. “Gray?” 

“Right behind you,” he said. “Where the hell did that dragon go?” 

Salamander hummed, and Erza jumped as she realized the dragon was literally right next to her. Why was it taking her eyes so long to adjust to the darkness? 

There were a few soft thumps, then some clattering and scraping. 

“What the hell is that?” Gray asked, and Erza felt him grab her shoulder as he felt around, trying to discern his surroundings. “We can’t make a fire, even with that wood he grabbed, it’s gonna be too fucking wet—” 

Bright light exploded through the cavern, and Erza winced, covering her eyes to give them a moment to adjust to the sudden light. “The hell…?” She peaked between her fingers. 

The cave really wasn’t that large, just big enough to comfortably fit the three of them, as well as the fire that Salamander hunched over. 

“How did you do that?” Gray demanded, giving the dragon a curious look as he leaned a little closer. 

Salamander cocked his head and raised an eyebrow, before grinning. He turned away from Gray and back to the small pile of branches, before opening his mouth and breathing a burst of flame into the fire, causing it to burn even brighter. 

Erza’s eyes widened, and she gasped, “Th-That’s so c-cool!” 

Gray glanced between her and Salamander and the fire. “Did you know he could do that? Why the hell didn’t you do that, I don’t know, when you were stuck in a cage and needed to get out?” 

Salamander’s proud smile melted into a snarl as he bared his teeth at Gray. 

“Gray,” Erza scolded. The dragon probably hadn’t been able to breathe fire then, for whatever reason. And most of the time he’d had a muzzle on anyway. 

She shifted, getting as close to the fire as she could without actually  _ being _ in it, and held her hands out, letting the flames warm her frozen fingers. “Thanks,” she told the dragon. Likely, she would have frozen to death if he hadn’t found them and helped them. “Really.” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Gray said, scooting closer to join Erza next to the fire. 

The dragon hummed, before getting up and going to sit just inside the opening of the cave, watching the falling snow and slightly spreading his wings, covering as much of the opening as he could, like he was—

_ Protecting us, _ Erza realized. He was trying to keep them as warm as possible, doing everything he could to keep them safe. 

She glanced at Gray, and she knew he’d realized the same thing. 

After everything that humans had put him through, Erza couldn’t help but be amazed that he was willing to do this for them, even if they  _ had _ helped him escape. 

“Well, looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while,” Gray said as he tugged Erza closer. “Might as well get comfortable.” 

Salamander didn’t turn to look at them, but Erza noticed his ear twitch as he listened to them. 

It was going to be a long night, but thanks to Salamander, at least they weren’t going to spend it freezing to death. 


	8. Chapter 8

Natsu smiled as he heard Erza and Gray’s breath even out. He was surprised they trusted him enough to fall asleep, especially Gray. He seemed very protective of Erza, and she, well… Natsu had observed the way she behaved and reacted to different things on that ship. She wasn’t exactly a trusting person either. 

His hand drifted up to feel the notches in his ear. Originally, he’d blamed Erza for them, but after he really thought about it… it wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t wanted to do that, and had clearly been forced into it, for whatever reason. All she’d ever wanted to do was help him, and it wasn’t fair of Natsu to hold that one thing against her. Besides, they’d healed now, so what did it matter? 

The fire started to dim, and he decided to go get some more wood, before curling up and catching a little bit of sleep himself. 

* * *

Gray groaned, shifting ever so slightly, before wincing at all the aches in his body. The floor of this cold cave was probably one of the more miserable places he’d ever slept, and he could tell the cave was lightening with the rising sun. He needed to get up. 

Something warm tickled his nose, and he forced his eyes open. 

Salamander was practically sitting on top of him, leaned so close their noses were nearly touching. He blinked owlishly at Gray, seemingly having  _ no _ issue with how close they were, even now that Gray was awake. 

Gray yelped and jerked up, smashing his forehead against Salamander’s. 

What the hell was he  _ doing? _ Just watching Gray sleep!? 

“Ow! What the hell, man?” the dragon growled, leaning backwards and rubbing his forehead. 

“Why the hell were you just watching me sleep!?” Gray demanded. “That’s creepy, you—” He cut himself off, his eyes going wide. “You can  _ talk!?”  _

“Yes, I can talk, asshole,” he muttered, letting his hand fall away from his forehead so he could glare at Gray. “I ain’t that stupid.” 

“Then why haven’t you— What the  _ hell?  _ You let us just try and  _ guess _ whatever the hell you were thinking? Do you know how hard we’ve tried just to  _ communicate  _ with you!?” Gray snapped. 

Salamander narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to snarl back some retort, when Erza groaned, rolling over and rubbing at her eyes. “Gray…?” Her bones popped and cracked as she sat up, still blinking the sleep from her eyes. 

“He can talk!” he shouted as he jabbed his finger at Salamander. “He— You know I just started to think he couldn’t since he said  _ nothing _ last night, but he can talk!” 

Erza’s drowsiness vanished, and she leaned forward with interest. “He said something!?” 

Salamander only blinked and cocked his head. 

Erza narrowed her eyes as she turned to Gray. “Are you sure?” 

“Oh no.” He shook his head. “No, no, no, no. You’re not doing this to me, Salamander. I know you—” 

“Natsu,” the dragon said. 

Gray’s mouth snapped shut, and Erza gasped. 

“My name isn’t Salamander, it’s Natsu,” he said. 

“Natsu…” Erza smiled, warm and bright. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Natsu.” She held her hand out to shake. 

Natsu’s eyebrows pinched together, before he leaned forward to sniff at her hand. 

“You shake it,” Gray said, trying very hard not to think about how… cute the dragon’s confusion was. 

“Huh?” Natsu continued to stare at Erza’s hand with total concentration, like he was desperately trying to figure out what she wanted from him. 

“Look.” Gray took Erza’s hand, smirking at the annoyed and disappointed sound Natsu made. “You just shake it.” He demonstrated, before letting go of her so the dragon could try. 

Erza offered her hand to him again, and gave him an encouraging smile when he hesitated. 

Natsu took her hand, and shook it up and down, far longer than he needed to, but Erza didn’t say anything. She just held her other hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. 

“Why… are we doing this?” Natsu eventually asked, still not ceasing to shake Erza’s hand. 

“People do it when they meet each other,” Gray said. “You can stop now, by the way.” 

Natsu dropped Erza’s hand, and scooted closer to Gray. “Can I shake yours, too?” he asked. 

“Uh, I mean, yeah… I guess if you want to.” Gray held his hand out. 

Natsu grinned and took it, and he was so…  _ warm. _ His claws scraped Gray’s skin, but the dragon was very careful not to actually cut him. 

“What do dragons do when they meet each other?” Erza asked. 

Natsu dropped Gray’s hand, as he seemed to think about the question. “Uh… I don’t know, I guess we smell each other? I don’t meet a lot of other dragons…” 

Had Natsu really been out here alone like Erza seemed to think? Gray felt a twinge of sadness as he imagined that. He didn’t know  _ what _ he would do without his friends or siblings. 

“Oh.” Erza’s smile began to fade. “If… if you don’t mind me asking… why didn’t you ever talk to me before now?” 

Natsu looked away, and his wings curled around his body, like he wanted to hide. “Do I have to answer that?” 

Erza exchanged a look with Gray, before she stammered, “W-Well, I mean you don’t  _ have _ to—” 

Natsu relaxed again. “Good.” 

Gray took a deep breath. It was… strange, being around Natsu. He’d begun to notice it last night, with the way the dragon just sat at the entrance of the cave, unmoving and focused. Sure, there were obviously some very human parts of him, but his mannerisms, his behaviors and reactions, were extremely animalistic, and honestly it could be a little unsettling to watch him. 

“Thanks… for getting me out of there,” Natsu muttered, shaking Gray from his thoughts. “I… I thought that I… Honestly, I don’t think I would have even survived long enough for them to sell me like they wanted.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I was about to freeze to death without any fire. I’m sorry I ran that night, I just… was a little freaked out…” 

“Of course!” Erza exclaimed. “I couldn’t just leave you there!” 

“Yeah, and we really don’t blame you for running either, man,” Gray interjected. “I probably would have run, too.” Sure, it might have been a little irritating, but well… it was understandable. 

Natsu stared at Gray, before he launched himself towards him, kicking up the ashes from the fire that had long since gone out. 

“Gah! What the hell!?” Gray exclaimed, throwing his arms up in a defense. 

The dragon wrapped Gray in a bone-crushing hug, burying his face in his chest and rubbing against him like some giant cat. 

“Uh…” Gray looked to Erza for help.  _ What the hell? _ he mouthed, nodding down at the dragon. 

She gave him a helpless look.  _ I don’t know!  _ she mouthed back.  _ He never— _

“M’sorry I don’t have anything to give you,” Natsu mumbled, somehow managing to squeeze Gray even tighter, causing him to wheeze as the breath was literally squeezed out of him. “I gave Erza her knife, ‘cause I knew she liked knives. Do you like knives, too?” 

Gray fell back to lean against the wall of the cave, and the movement freed him enough to at least breathe properly, and  _ damn _ they were going to have to explain to Natsu how fragile humans were compared to dragons. “I uh, knives are fine, I guess. But you don’t have to give me anything. That’s not why I did it.” 

Finally, Natsu let go of him, but he still didn’t back off. He braced his arms against the wall on either side of Gray. “But I wanna give you something!” His eyes roamed over Gray, like he was searching for something. His gaze halted on Gray’s chest, and the dragon grabbed the silver cross necklace that had worked its way out of the collar of his shirt in his sleep. “You like necklaces?” he asked. “I have some necklaces! I’ll bring you some!” He smiled, very obviously proud and relieved he’d discovered something to give Gray. 

He looked so happy that Gray didn’t have it in him to tell him that  _ no, _ he didn’t exactly like necklaces, and that he just wore this one because it was from his parents. So he just sighed, and said, “Yeah, sure, I like necklaces.” 

“Hey, Natsu?” Erza moved so she could sit closer to Gray and lean against the wall. “Where  _ have _ you been getting stuff like knives and necklaces?” She pulled the knife he’d given her off her belt. “This is worth a lot of money.” 

The dragon finally backed away from Gray. “Around. Some of the stuff I’ve always had, sometimes I find it in the woods or caves.” Then he frowned. “Why is it worth money? Because it’s shiny?” 

Erza shook her head. “No, it’s made of gold and jewels, that stuff’s rare, so it’s worth a lot of money.” 

“Oh…” He pulled his knees towards his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “But it’s… it’s shiny. Don’t you… want to keep it?” 

_ No way. _ Gray held his hand over his mouth, trying his damndest to stifle his laughter because he knew Erza would kick his ass if he offended Natsu, but he couldn’t help it. Were dragons actually obsessed with shiny things? He thought that was some stupid legend! 

But also… just how much fucking gold had Natsu hoarded? 

“Oh, Natsu…” Erza clipped the knife back to her belt. “I’m going to keep the knife you gave me forever, I’d never sell it, because  _ you _ gave it to me. I was just wondering why you seemed to like this kind of stuff.” 

He shrugged. “Dunno, just like it. I have a lot. And I knew I had that knife, so I thought you might like it.” 

“Well I do like it, very much,” Erza assured him. 

“I’ll get you your necklace soon,” Natsu promised Gray. “I’ll bring it to you.” 

Gray shifted uncomfortably, and decided it was time to do the thing they’d wanted to find him for in the first place. “You know… you really should stay away from the village.” 

Natsu’s ears drooped slightly. “You don’t want me around?” 

“No!” Erza was quick to exclaim. “No, it’s not that we don’t want to see you, or— or anything like that, it’s just…” She looked to Gray for help. 

“You know how Erza told you those people are looking for you?” he said. “The closer you are to the village, the better of a chance they have at finding you. So you need to stay away.” 

Natsu rested his chin on his knees, and Gray swore he was trying to glare a hole through the wall of the cave. “But I like seeing you. And they can’t catch me.” 

“They already did once!” Gray pointed out, and Erza nodded in agreement. 

“Because I fucked up,” he argued. “I made a mistake, I won’t do it again. Their trap…” A deep snarl rumbled from his chest. “I’ll know it’s fake now.” 

“Fake?” Erza echoed. 

“Nothing,” Natsu mumbled. “But no one comes far into the woods,  _ you _ never come far into the woods. I thought you might not come into the woods at all!” He shook his head. “Until you did. And I wanna see you. I like seeing you.” 

“It’s not like you actually know us,” Gray said. 

Erza elbowed him in the ribs, and he coughed to cover up his pathetic gasp. 

“Natsu, we just want you to be safe,” Erza pressed. “And… And so close to the village isn’t safe for you. Hell, it’s not really even safe for us.” 

“Huh?” Natsu sat up straight, his wings flaring. “What do you mean it’s not safe for you? You’re not safe!?” 

“Uh…” Erza picked at the collar of her coat. “W-Well… we have magic, which I guess you know, but if regular people ever find out, it could be really bad for us.” 

“But you used your magic on the ship,” Natsu said. “And there were a lot of people there, and— Oh…” He grabbed at his ear, feeling the notches. “Oh.” He bared his teeth, and a small plume of smoke escaped from the corner of his mouth. “That’s why they treated you so bad.” 

So it was bad enough there that even Natsu had realized how terribly Erza was treated? Had it been getting worse? Gray was going to have to ask her about that later. 

“Yeah…” Erza sighed. “But do you see, Natsu? You shouldn’t come near the village. Actually… you should probably just leave Magnolia, the island, altogether. That’s what would be best for you.” 

Natsu went rigid, before jumping to his feet. “I can’t leave this island!” he shouted. 

“You really should,” Gray insisted. “For your own sake.” 

“I’m  _ not _ leaving,” the dragon growled. 

“But  _ why?” _ Erza asked. “You won’t even think about it?” 

“No, I  _ won’t.” _ He began to pace the tiny space of the cave, anxiously picking at the end of his scarf. “I won’t leave, I won’t do it.” 

“Natsu!” Erza exclaimed. 

_ “No,” _ he snarled, before marching out of the cave and stomping through the fresh, powdery snow. 

“Natsu!” Gray called, jumping up to follow him, with Erza quick on his heels. Gods, he better not pull that disappearing act again, fly off and leave them wondering where the hell he was and when they’d see him again. 

“Shit, I didn’t realize it was this late,” Erza said as they emerged from the cave and she looked at the sky. “They’re gonna kill me for being late.” 

_ “What!?” _ Natsu demanded, whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes. 

“No, no!” Erza was quick to reassure him. “No, I didn’t mean— They won’t actually kill me, they’ll just… yell some, and probably make me stay late, threaten me a bit. It’ll be fine.” 

“That’s not  _ fine, _ Erza,” Gray muttered. 

She waved him off. “Natsu, why won’t you leave the island?” 

“I…” He shook his head, a helpless expression on his face. “I just can’t, alright? I can’t do that. And… and if they go long enough without finding me, they’ll have to give up, won’t they?” 

“I mean… in theory…” Erza admitted. “But I still just… Look, I want you to be safe, and you’ll never be completely safe so long as they’re looking for you.” 

“I can keep myself safe,” he insisted. “From the sound of it,  _ you _ two are the ones who need someone to keep them safe.” 

Gray snorted. “We’ve been doing fine for this long.” 

Natsu huffed. “Look, I need to go. I have to… Never mind. Just be more careful, okay? You’re lucky I was out here looking for you last night, otherwise you would have frozen to death in that storm.” 

“Same goes to you,” Erza said. “I don’t want you anywhere near the village, especially if you’re not planning on leaving the island anytime soon.” 

He pouted, his wings drooping. “But how will I see you again?” 

Erza glanced at Gray, but all he could do was shrug. He agreed that Natsu would be safest if he just left the island, but if the dragon wasn’t even going to entertain that idea, Gray had no idea what to do next. 

“In two days,” Erza said. “We’ll come back out to the woods in two days, and you can come look for us then, alright? But stay  _ away _ until then.” 

Natsu’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” He swayed on his feet, his wings and ears perking up in excitement. “And I’ll bring you a necklace!” he promised Gray. 

Gray had half a mind to insist this was a bad idea. That for their own safety, they should all just stay away and Natsu should go back to the deep woods, but Gray just couldn't tell him no, not when he looked so excited, and Erza obviously wanted to see him more, so he smiled instead. “Sure, bring me a necklace.” 

Natsu nodded, and turned to run through the trees. “I’ll see you in a few days!” he called over his shoulder, before spreading his wings and leaping into the sky. 

Erza sighed and leaned against Gray. “He’s sweet.” 

“He’s a dumbass,” Gray said. 

She gave him a light smack to the chest. “He is not! He just… doesn’t know much about people. I think he’s lonely.” 

“Yeah…” he agreed. The dragon had to be, to be so desperate to see them again when they hardly knew each other at all. 

“I like him,” she said, a fond smile on her face. 

And as much as he hated to admit it, Gray said, “Me too.” 


	9. Chapter 9

“Where is she!?” 

Erza sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She really should have expected Gray to show up when she wasn’t home by her normal time. In fact, she was stuck here about three hours late. 

“Gray, just calm down, she’s fine,” Jellal said. “They’re just making her stay late.” 

“Like hell I’m just gonna believe that, I’m—!” 

“I’m right here,” Erza said, walking across the ship to where Jellal was trying to keep Gray from stomping onboard and causing a scene. “Jellal’s right. I was just stuck here a little late.” 

Gray relaxed as he laid eyes on her, the tension leaving his body and relief surfacing in his eyes. “Erza! You didn’t come home, and then I just… Makarov said not to worry, but he doesn’t  _ know, _ and I just—” 

“Look, I’m fine, Gray. See.” Erza gestured to herself. “I’m fine.” 

“Like I  _ told _ you,” Jellal said. 

Gray glared at him. 

“Jellal, give us a moment?” Erza requested. “Tell them I’ll get back to work in a second, let me just explain it to him.” 

Jellal muttered something under his breath, but nodded and went to do as she asked. 

“What the hell is going on, Erza?” Gray asked as soon as he was out of earshot. “They’ve never made you stay late before.” 

“It’s because I was late this morning,” she said.  _ Four hours _ late, actually, thanks to waking up late and then speaking with Natsu and having to walk back from the woods. “They’re mad. But also… they’re going to start making me work overnight anyways.” 

“What!?” Gray demanded. “You have to sleep sometime!” 

“I know…” She picked at the hem of her coat. “I’ll… I’ll figure it out. It’s a punishment, for the most part, but they say it’s for better security. You know… so nothing else gets… stolen.” 

“Oh…” Gray’s frown deepened. “But… it’s been days now. Why are they just now choosing to retaliate for that?” 

Erza shrugged. She hadn’t the slightest idea. Maybe showing up late was the last straw. They’d told her she’d been pushing her luck lately, but she hadn’t listened, and now it had bit her in the ass. “I don’t know. But it looks like it’s gonna be this way for a while. Can you let Makarov know when you go back?” 

“I guess… He’s going to ask why, though,” Gray said. 

Erza hummed, knowing that Gray was right. Makarov was going to want answers for something like this. “Just… just tell him you don’t know, I’ll come up with something to tell him.” 

“You could tell him the truth.” 

She shook her head. “You know I can’t. But I’ll come up with something. And…” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “I won’t be able to go see Natsu.” 

“Then we’ll just go see him some other time,” he said. “It’s not that big of a deal.” 

“It is, though!” Erza insisted. “He’ll be worried if we don’t show up, or he’ll think we lied and didn’t want to see him, and I… Look, you’re just going to have to go without me. At least then he can see you, and you can tell him why I’m not there.” 

“Erza!” Gray protested. “I can’t just—” 

“Why not?” she asked. “He really liked you, I could tell! He wants to see you just as much as he wants to see me. And I’d feel awful if we just didn’t show up after we promised him we would.” 

“Fine,” Gray agreed grudgingly. “I’ll go.” 

* * *

Two days later, Gray found himself hiking through the woods alone. The snow still hadn’t melted from the storm. In fact, it’d only gotten deeper, since it had ended up snowing a couple inches the previous night as well. But thankfully it wasn’t  _ as _ cold today. The sun was shining, and the snow was even beginning to melt, though it would almost definitely refreeze in the night. 

He still couldn’t  _ believe _ that those bastards were making Erza work overnight now, guarding that useless cargo. She only had a few hours of free time a day, and of course she spent it all sleeping. Gray had scarcely had a decent conversation with her the past couple of days. 

He was also a little… nervous, to be meeting Natsu like this. Erza had a much stronger relationship with the dragon than he did, not to mention that Natsu was bound to be disappointed when he realized it was only Gray there. 

Natsu was also an actual fucking  _ dragon, _ and it was obvious he had no idea how to actually interact with people, and Erza seemed to handle that better than Gray did—

_ “Gray!”  _

Gray twisted on his heel, searching for Natsu, when a massive weight slammed into him, knocking him to the ground and causing snow to fly up around him. He groaned, and let his face fall to the ground, not even caring how cold the snow was against his skin. 

“Gray!” Natsu readjusted himself, but didn’t bother actually getting off of him. He poked at the back of Gray’s head when he didn’t respond. “Gray?” 

“Yeah, it’s me,” he muttered, before rolling over and shoving the dragon off himself. “Don’t fucking do that kinda shit! The hell did you tackle me like that for?” 

“I was flying, and then I saw you, so I just stopped,” he said like it was perfectly obvious. 

Gray could only stare at him. Had he seriously dropped out of the sky,  _ on top of him, _ as a way of saying hello? 

Gray swore he was going to kill this dragon. 

“Where’s Erza?” Natsu asked as he sprang back to his feet, glancing around wildly like she might be hiding somewhere. 

Gray sighed, not even bothering to get back up, convinced that Natsu was going to tackle him back to the ground at some point, considering how strangely tactile he’d been before. “She couldn’t come. The people she works for have been making her do a lot more, and she’s barely got time to sleep now.” 

Natsu’s wings and ears drooped. “Oh…” 

Gray shifted, moving so he could sit with his legs crossed. “Yeah, she was upset she couldn’t come see you, and said she hoped she could sometime soon.” 

“Is it my fault?” Natsu asked. 

“Huh?” 

The dragon’s wings curled around him. “Is it… it’s because you guys got me out, isn’t it? They’re mad at her.” 

“They don’t know it was her, they just… Look, they’re just assholes. It’s got nothing to do with you,” Gray assured him. 

“I hate them,” Natsu snarled, something dark and feral flickering in his eyes. He held his hands up, and Gray couldn’t help but be fascinated as he watched each one of the dragon’s claws flex, like he was imagining tearing into something. “I  _ hate them.” _

“Me too.” Gray had hated them ever since the day Erza had come to him sobbing and terrified after they’d discovered her magic. 

Natsu shook his head and fell back to the ground next to Gray, and he was so warm that Gray could feel his body heat even without touching him. “I wanna help her someday, like she helped me. I just… don’t know how,” he said

Gray nearly scoffed. Like Erza would ever just accept help like that. Though he supposed he technically couldn’t really say anything about that. 

“I brought you your necklace, though!” Natsu exclaimed, his entire demeanor shifting in an instant. “The shiniest one I had!” 

“Oh, yeah?” Honestly, Gray had forgotten about the necklace, after everything that had happened with Erza. He still wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. He wasn’t exactly a  _ jewelry _ person, but he couldn’t turn the gift down either. He hoped it was a simple enough necklace that he could tuck it into his shirt and kind of just forget it was there. 

Natsu dug around in the pocket of his jacket, and Gray desperately tried not to wince as the dragon fished out an absolutely  _ monstrous  _ necklace. For one thing, it wasn’t actually a necklace, it was a  _ choker,  _ and looked a lot more like something Ultear would wear, rather than him. And unless Gray was mistaken, it was completely covered in  _ diamonds. _

_ Oh gods, this thing is worth a fortune! _ Gray didn’t even want to  _ touch _ it, worried he would somehow ruin it or break it. 

Natsu’s incessant smile never left his face, and he held the choker out. 

Gingerly, Gray took it from him, delicately running his fingers over the diamonds. “Where… did you get something like this?” he asked. This was worth even more than Erza’s jewel encrusted golden dagger, and that was really saying something. 

Natsu shrugged, like he couldn’t be bothered in the least with something like that. “Do you like it?” 

Gray took a deep breath, reminding himself that Natsu didn’t… think about this kind of stuff the way everyone else did. To him, this necklace was only worth something because it was  _ shiny. _ He was also giving it to Gray as a thank you, of sorts. He almost  _ definitely _ didn’t understand the connotations of giving someone jewelry like this, jewelry made of  _ diamonds,  _ no less. “It’s… It’s pretty,” he finally managed to say, unable to come up with anything else to say. 

“Yeah!” Natsu got even closer. “I thought so, too! I’m glad you like it.” 

Gray hummed and ran his thumb over the diamonds. If he sold this, he’d never have to worry about somewhere to sleep during winter again. But… As he looked back to Natsu, his smile and the excitement shining in his eyes, Gray wasn’t sure he could do that, and suddenly he understood what Erza had meant when she said she would never sell the knife Natsu had given her. 

Clearly, it was more than just a gratitude thing to the dragon. Gray wasn’t sure  _ what _ he thought the gift-giving actually meant, but he didn’t want to hurt Natsu’s feelings by  _ selling _ whatever he was given. 

Sure… Ultear and Lyon might give him hell for it, but… 

He sighed. It wasn’t like it mattered. It had never taken Lyon and Ultear so long to get back from a job before, and Gray was starting to get really worried. He’d give anything to have them berate him over not wanting to sell a diamond necklace. 

“What’s wrong?” Natsu asked, his smile twisting into a frown. “You’re upset.” 

“No I’m not,” Gray insisted. He wasn’t going to start crying to this dragon about how worried he was over Lyon and Ultear. He hadn’t even talked to Erza about it yet. 

“You are!” Natsu leaned over to nose at his cheek. “You smell sad.” 

_ Well fuck. _ Gray supposed he couldn’t really hide his emotions if Natsu could quite literally  _ sense _ them. And he’d thought Ultear and Mirajane were good at reading people. “I… I have a brother and sister,” he finally said. “They left Magnolia a while ago for a job, and they were supposed to be back by now, but… they’re not. Sorry, I just started thinking about them and got worried.” He shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal, but it was obvious he hadn’t fooled Natsu. 

“I’m sure they’ll come back,” Natsu said. “They’re your siblings, they have magic like you, don’t they?” 

“That’s… part of the issue,” Gray admitted, still fidgeting with the diamond necklace. “We use our magic on our jobs, so if they were caught…” He shook his head. “I don’t know where they’re at, and anything could have happened to them!” Now that he was actually thinking about it, admitting it aloud, it was so much worse. Lyon and Ultear could be  _ dead _ for all he knew! They could have been caught using their magic to break in somewhere and been  _ killed. _

Natsu wrapped his arm around his shoulders and yanked him into a hug. He even wrapped his wing around Gray. “You’ll find them,” the dragon assured him, before burying his nose in Gray’s hair. 

Natsu’s words didn’t actually make him feel any better, but Gray was distracted by how touchy the dragon was. “Hey, Natsu? You wouldn’t let us touch you back on the ship, so how come you… well, you know…?” 

Natsu still didn’t let go of him. If anything, he held Gray tighter. “I know I can trust you now, and I like you.” 

Gray wiggled out of the dragon’s hold, pretending he didn’t notice the disappointed look in the dragon’s eyes as he did so. “You’re lonely, aren’t you?” he asked. “You’re out here all by yourself.” 

Natsu looked away and shifted ever so slightly. “I’m not lonely!” 

Gray rolled his eyes. “Sure, you’re not.” 

“I’m not! I—!” 

“It’s fine if you are,” Gray said. “Just…” He nearly groaned. What point was there in this? After all, the dragon literally had  _ no idea _ the kind of signals he was sending. “Never mind.” 

Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. “M’not lonely. Just… Just…” He growled and dug his claws into his upper arms. 

“You came closer to the village than you normally do when you were captured, didn’t you?” Gray asked. “I’ve been wondering for a while now how that even happened, mostly because of what you said about how you slipped up, and because I realized how good your senses actually were. If you’ve been able to so easily find me and Erza out in the woods like this, you should have realized there were people all over the place when you got captured. Were you lonely and looking for someone to talk to?” 

“No!” Natsu snapped. “I’m not an idiot! My dad told me I should stay away from people no matter what!” 

“Then what the hell happened?” Gray demanded, not bothering to dwell on the comment about Natsu's father. 

“It was a trap!” he exclaimed, jumping up and flaring his wings. “It-It was a stupid trap and I  _ fell _ for it.” He hung his head. “I just.. I thought… But it was just humans being terrible again.” 

“What happened?” Gray asked softly. Natsu looked so  _ frustrated, _ and while Gray might not have the same insane senses as the dragon, he didn’t need them to know that he was  _ upset. _

“I wasn’t the only dragon on this island…” Natsu muttered, falling to the ground again. “We… well, we didn’t always get along, but he… His name was Gajeel, and we fought sometimes over stupid stuff, but he’d help me hunt for food when I was younger and had trouble, and find good places to sleep. Then… about two years ago, he vanished. Which didn’t make sense! He wouldn’t just  _ leave _ the island, I know he wouldn’t! But I couldn’t go look for him because… because I just couldn’t.” 

Gray got a sick feeling in his stomach as he started to realize where this was going. He may not know a lot about dragon hunting, but he remembered Ultear telling him about techniques trappers tended to use. 

“Then one day I smelled him! It was faint, I didn’t think it was actually  _ him, _ you know?” Natsu continued. “But I thought I could track him. Except it… it was just a few scales and scraps of clothes, and as soon as I got close a trap clamped around my foot and as soon as I fell there were more of them, and…” He shuddered. “I passed out. I think they were laced with drugs or something based on the scent, and by the time I woke up I’d lost a lot of blood and I had barely any fire. And… And then I was stuck there for days before they came to check the trap and…” He bared his teeth. “That’s what happened to Gajeel. He got caught and sold by damn humans somehow, and now he’s probably… it’s been  _ years. _ Anything could have happened to him!” 

Gray felt a pang in his chest. He didn’t  _ remember _ any dragons being captured on Magnolia before, but it likely could have been professional dragon hunters that hadn’t bothered stopping in the village. And Natsu was right. If it had been that long ago, it was likely the other dragon could be anywhere in the world now, sold to anyone and being used for all kinds of awful things. But… “If they were using his scent to lure you in, that probably means he’s alive. The people who own him probably started selling his scales and old clothes to other trappers and merchants for a little extra money, but he’s probably still alive.” 

“I hope so…” Natsu muttered. “If I ever see him again, first thing I’m gonna do is punch him for bein’ stupid enough to get caught, and for getting me into that mess!” 

Gray chuckled. “Yeah, think I might punch Lyon and Ultear, too.” 

Natsu’s smile was back, smaller and more restrained than the normal grin he had, but just as genuine. He leaned over and licked Gray’s cheek. His tongue was a little rough, almost like a cat's.

Heat rushed across Gray’s cheeks, and his eyes widened. 

Natsu ducked his head. “Do… do humans not… do that?” he asked. 

Gray reached up to touch his cheek, really wishing the blush would go away, rather than continue to get worse. “Um… no, no… not really,” he said. 

“Oh. So that’s why Erza punched me in the nose when I did it to her,” he mused, rubbing at his nose like he was recalling the pain of said punch. 

“She… did?” Gray snorted with laughter. Erza had neglected to mention that fact when she’d told him about the lick. “Of course she did!” 

“So… what do you do instead?” Natsu asked. 

“Instead of licking each other?” Gray had no idea how to answer that. The closest thing he could come up with was  _ kissing, _ but he wasn’t about to tell Natsu that. “Nothing, we don’t— we just don’t do that.” 

“Oh…” Natsu hunched his shoulders. “Okay.” 

“But it’s fine,” Gray assured him. “Erza came back all excited that you licked her. She thought it was sweet.” 

“But she punched me!” he argued. 

“Yeah, she does things like that,” Gray said with a smile. “But trust me, she wasn’t offended or anything. You probably just surprised her.” 

“Okay,” Natsu said, perking up a little bit as Gray promised that. 

Gray wasn’t sure how long he stayed out in the woods with Natsu. At some point the dragon had laid down in his lap, chattering away as Gray just listened. He couldn’t believe Natsu had managed to stay silent the entire time he’d been captured, if this was how much he normally talked. Gray could scarcely get a word in himself. 

Eventually, he started getting cold enough he was uncomfortable, and Makarov would begin to worry if he didn’t come back. “I’ll see you soon, Natsu, alright?” he promised as he got up and brushed the snow off himself. 

“And Erza?” Natsu asked expectantly. 

“I’m sure she’ll come if she can,” Gray told him. “I know she misses you. Three days, alright? Hopefully that will be enough time for them to get over that ridiculous punishment of hers.” 

Natsu nodded. “Alright!” 

Before Gray managed to turn and go, Natsu caught him by the shoulder and gave him another soft lick across the cheek. 

“Natsu!” Gray exclaimed. 

“You said it was okay!” he argued. “And you said humans didn’t have anything they did instead!” 

Gray sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” He rubbed at his cheek. “Guess I did.” He reached out and patted the dragon on the head, right between his horns. “Be careful, alright?” 

“I will!” Natsu spread his wings, his muscles going taut as he prepared to take off. “Bring Erza next time!” 

“I said I’d try.” He turned on his heel. “See you, Natsu.” 

He heard the dragon take off, his wings beat the air, creating a soft wind, and Gray started his walk back to the village. 

His hand found its way into his pocket, feeling the necklace he’d tucked away, and he pulled it out, admiring the glittering diamonds. 

_ The shiniest one I had!  _

“Dammit,” Gray groaned. Erza just  _ had _ to make him come by himself today, just had to make him spend time with Natsu alone. “We’re not doing this,” he told himself, shaking his head. “We’ve been hung up on Erza for long enough, we are  _ not _ adding some weird fucking feral dragon into it too.” 

Before he could think too much about it, Gray brought the choker up to his neck, fumbling with the clasps as he attempted to put it on. 

He couldn’t  _ believe _ he was getting hung up on a dragon, just because he’d given him a pretty necklace and licked his cheek. 

“This is fucking stupid,” he muttered. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I'm sorry about the longer wait! My finals were horrible, and then I finished them just in time for the holidays, which means a lot more works hours, cuz yay! Retail! Anyways... I think I'm finally recovered from the mental strain, so I can start writing again! Hopefully I can finish up this fic before classes start again at the end of the month. Anyways... I hope you enjoy the chapter

Erza and Gray settled into a sort of routine in the following weeks. While Erza was still forced to work overnight, they had stopped making her come in so early in the morning. She’d practically become nocturnal, and rarely got to see Makarov, or her friends. The only person she really interacted with on a regular basis was Gray, because he was still staying with them, and seemingly didn’t mind altering his sleep schedule so he could spend some actual time with her. 

They’d also been going to meet up with Natsu as often as they could. It was usually every couple days, but sometimes Gray went without Erza, as he obviously had more free time than her. 

The more time that Erza spent with Natsu, the more she liked him, the more she cared about him. Sure, he might be completely hopeless when it came to socializing like a normal person, but he was always so excited to see them. He still wouldn’t tell them why he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of leaving the island, so Erza had nearly given up trying to convince him to do so. 

Gray hadn’t though. Every chance he got, he tried to convince Natsu to leave. While she understood it, she wanted Natsu to be safe too, she… didn’t want him to leave anymore. She’d miss him. She knew it was horribly selfish, but she just couldn’t help it. He’d become a part of her life now, and she looked forward to the days she got to see him. 

“Mira wants to know where you’ve been at recently,” Gray said as he fell into the bed next to her. 

Erza pulled the blanket up to her chin, snuggling further into the bed as Gray disturbed her carefully crafted mass of pillows and blankets. “Did you tell her I’ve been working my ass off?” 

“She says it’s  _ more _ than that,” Gray continued. “She says you always made time to come see them before now.” 

Erza snorted. Sometimes she wondered if Mirajane had genuinely forgotten that they weren’t dating anymore. 

“She thinks  _ we’re _ dating now,” Gray said, before wiggling his way beneath the blankets. 

Amusement bubbled through Erza, and she smothered a laugh. “Us?  _ Dating?” _

“Yeah…” Gray rolled over, leaving his back to her. “She said we’ve been spending a lot more time together, and she thinks you’re the one who gave me the necklace, that you got if from work or something. I just went with it, because I knew if I told her it was someone else, she’d never let it go.” 

“Yeah… she really wouldn’t.” Honestly, Erza was surprised that Gray wore the necklace at all, let alone every day. It was sweet. She hadn’t realized he’d gotten quite so attached to the dragon. 

“They’re starting to catch on that we’re hiding something,” Gray said. “Cana asked me about it the other day, and Lisanna didn’t look like she was convinced when I let Mira believe you gave me the necklace.” 

Erza hummed. “Levy and Lucy already know, too… Do you think we should tell them about him?” 

“It’s not really up to us, is it?” Gray pointed out. “Ask Natsu. If he says it’s okay, fine. But he’s the one that’s more at risk if more people know.” 

Erza crossed her arms over her chest. “I… I suppose, but it’s not like they can’t keep secrets. Our magic, not to mention Laxus—” 

“I still think it should be up to him,” Gray said. “He’s twitchy about something.” 

“Yeah…” Erza agreed. It was obvious there were still things that Natsu was hiding from them. Why he had refused to speak the entire time he’d been captured, and of course, his complete reluctance to leave the island. “Maybe we should ask him about looping in some more people next time we see him.” 

“Maybe…” Gray still refused to roll over and face her. “I think we need to find out what he’s hiding. I mean… I’m sure it’s not anything bad or anything, but… I’m worried about him.” 

“I know what you mean,” Erza said. “I wish he could just come to the village… actually stay with us… I always feel so bad leaving him all alone out in those woods.” 

Gray shifted, and she realized he had reached up to fidget with the diamond necklace. “He can’t. It’s too dangerous.” 

“Well I  _ know _ that,” Erza grumbled. “What’s your problem? You in a bad mood, or something?” 

“M’just tired, Erz…” He pulled a blanket over his head. “Still haven’t even heard from Lyon or Ultear, and I can’t actually do anything for Natsu, I can’t do anything for you. It’s just… I’m tired. I’m tired of this stupid fucking island!” 

Erza opened her mouth to say something, to try and reassure him, before she realized she couldn’t come up with anything. 

Gray sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to— Goodnight, Erza.” 

“Goodnight, Gray…” 

* * *

“I don’t care who you tell about me,” Natsu said with a wide smile. “If you trust them, so will I!” 

Erza sighed and shook her head. Truly, she wasn’t sure she would ever believe that this was the same nervous, aggressive, distrustful dragon that she had met. He’d given his full loyalty to her and Gray so quickly. Did he really care about them that much? 

“You sure?” Gray asked. 

Natsu nodded, his smile never fading. 

Gray exchanged a look with Erza, before shrugging. After all, if Natsu said it was okay, it was fine then. Sure, explaining what had happened to everyone else would be… strange, but at least they’d be able to stop lying and sneaking around so much. And they’d have more people in their corner if something ended up… going wrong with Natsu, somewhere down the line. 

“Well, alright, then—” Erza said. 

“Just don’t tell them where I live,” he said. 

_ “We _ don’t know where you live,” Gray pointed out. 

Natsu cocked his head. “You know I come from over there.” He pointed towards the setting sun. 

“Yeah, I don’t think that qualifies as knowing where you live,” Gray argued. 

“Just don’t tell them?” Natsu requested, some of the ease leaving his expression. 

“Okay, we won’t tell them,” Erza assured him. 

Natsu's grin returned, and the rest of their visit carried on as normal. 

* * *

“Come on, Gray,” Erza said, standing up and clapping him on the shoulder. “We should probably be heading back.” 

Natsu pouted, like he always did when they had to leave, but he’d given up trying to convince them to stay longer. 

Gray glanced at Erza, then back to Natsu. “Actually… what if I stayed with you?” he asked. 

Natsu blinked, before his ears perked up and he smiled. “You… you wanna come home with me?” 

Erza did her best not to frown. What the hell was Gray up to? He’d never mentioned anything to  _ her _ about wanting to go stay with Natsu, and Gray wasn’t the type to come up with something like this in the spur of the moment. 

“Yeah, I wanna see where you live,” Gray said. 

Natsu jumped up, his grin widening. “Yeah! Yeah! You wanna come, Erza? We can—” He cut himself off, snapping his mouth closed so suddenly Erza could hear the  _ click _ of his teeth colliding. “I… I can’t…” He shook his head. “You can’t.” 

Gray narrowed his eyes. “And why not?” 

Erza nearly groaned, realizing this was exactly what Gray had expected to happen. This probably had something to do with convincing Natsu to leave the island. 

“I just can’t!” he exclaimed, flaring his wings wide, a pained look in his eyes. “It’s… it’s not… I—” 

“Look, Natsu, we wanna help you, but we can’t do that if you won’t even be honest with us,” Gray said, and he sounded so _tired._

_ This has something to do with Ultear and Lyon…  _ Erza realized, and she cursed herself for not actually making Gray talk about them.  _ Of course _ he was freaking out over his missing siblings, and he couldn’t do anything for them. But… he  _ could _ do something for Natsu, even if the dragon didn’t actually want the help. 

Or at least, that was probably how Gray saw it. 

“I can’t  _ tell _ you!” Natsu shouted, a panicked look in his eyes that reminded Erza all too much of how he’d looked when he was held captive. It wasn’t something she had ever wanted to see again. “I was so careful… s’why I wouldn’t talk for awhile… I didn’t wanna… I just can’t!” 

“Can’t  _ what, _ Natsu?” Gray demanded, getting to his feet and stomping towards the dragon. “We trusted you, we risked our asses to help you, whatever the fuck you’re not telling us—” 

“Come on, Gray,” Erza scolded, getting between them and giving her friend a hard look. “We don’t need to do this, he doesn’t have to tell us anything he doesn’t want—” 

“Dammit, Erza! He needs to get out of here or else he’s gonna end up right back there, and—” Gray began to snap. 

“I can’t leave her!” Natsu shouted, jerking backwards and baring his teeth. “I’m not fucking leaving her, no matter what!” 

Erza froze, and Gray drew back, his eyes widening as all the pieces clicked into place. “You’re not alone out here, are you?” he asked softly. 

“I—” Natsu’s wings curled around his body. “No, I’m not.” 

Erza thought she couldn’t feel anymore grief over what had happened to Natsu, but she felt her heart fracture all over again. He had stayed silent, refused to speak, all so he could protect someone else. No, it went further than that. He was willing to stay here, where it was unsafe, all to keep  _ her _ safe. 

Gray shook his head and sighed. “Dammit… why didn’t you  _ say _ anything?” 

“I didn’t want them to get her, too!” the dragon shouted. “I couldn’t— She was more important!” He snarled, and a small puff of smoke escaped his mouth. “Whatever… You need to be getting back, don’t you?” 

Erza nearly snorted. Like hell she was just going to  _ leave _ after Natsu had revealed there was someone out here living with him. She stepped forward and laid her hand on his shoulder. “Who is it, Natsu? You have to know by now that we wouldn’t do anything to hurt her or put her in danger, right?” 

He hung his head, letting his bangs fall into his eyes. “I…” 

“Erza’s right,” Gray said. “I… Look, I didn’t mean to— I shouldn’t have gotten pissed, alright? You don’t  _ have _ to tell us anything, you don’t even have to trust us… But maybe we could help her, too.” 

Natsu took a deep breath. “It’s my little sister…. Her name’s Wendy, and… I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to her.” 

A little sister. Erza cursed herself for not figuring out that Natsu was trying to protect someone sooner. Really, that was the only thing that actually explained his refusal to talk for so long, and why he was so twitchy about people knowing where he lived. 

“She was so worried when I disappeared,” he continued. “I think the only reason she never came closer to the village looking for me was because I told her not to if I ever… after Gajeel I got twitchy, and…” He growled and shook his head. “I can’t ever leave her again. I  _ won’t.” _

“Natsu, we never would have wanted you to leave her,” Erza said. “If we’d known—” 

“I don’t want anyone to know!” he exclaimed. “I… I know I said you could tell your friends about me, but not her… don’t tell anyone about her.” 

“Okay, okay, we won’t,” Erza assured him. “Right, Gray?” 

Gray nodded. “Yeah, of course not. Trust me, I get it…” 

Slowly, the tension left Natsu’s shoulders and wings, and the defensive look in his eyes faded. “I just wanted to protect her…” 

Erza tugged the dragon closer, knowing how much he liked physical affection. “I know, we shouldn’t have tried to force you to talk about it,” she said, with a light glare towards Gray. “And you don’t have to tell us anymore about her.” Obviously, he believed the best way he could keep her safe, was to just keep her a complete secret, and all things considered… that was probably true. 

Natsu reached up to clutch at his scarf. “She’s only twelve. I don’t want anything to happen to her.  _ Ever.”  _

“I know,” Erza assured him. “And I’ll do what I can to help you keep her safe.” 

“I’m sorry,” Gray said, voice sullen as he reached over to pet the dragon’s hair. “I… I just want you safe, I don’t want to… I can’t have anything happening to you, and I don’t know, I thought if you told me…” He cut himself off with a sigh. “Never mind. I’m just sorry.” 

“It’s fine…” Natsu said, pressing even closer to Erza. “It’s not like you knew…” He chewed at his lip, one his fangs poking out as he did so. “Do… Do you still want to come stay?” 

Gray blinked. “Huh?” 

“You could meet her,” Natsu said. “I mean, you know now, and she’d… it’d probably make her really happy.” 

Gray glanced at Erza, a questioning look in his eyes. “Sure, I’d… I’d like that.” 

Erza nodded. Sure, she would be exhausted for work, and Makarov might worry that she wasn’t home when she said she would be, but this was a big deal for Natsu. “I’d love to go, Natsu.” 


	11. Chapter 11

Natsu had no idea how unfriendly the terrain was to humans the closer to his home they got. Though he did feel bad for how much Gray and Erza seemed to be struggling to climb and maneuver their way through the difficult terrain, it did make him feel better about Wendy’s safety. Gray and Erza were in very good shape, so if even they were having so much trouble with this, then the vast majority of humans would never even attempt to come out here. 

Erza huffed as she clawed her way over a boulder, before turning to help Gray up. “Gods, Natsu. You travel this every day?” 

He shrugged. “I guess. Usually I just fly, though.” And most days, he never had to go far to find food. The forest was full of all kinds of creatures. 

“Yeah, well… I’d  _ kill _ for some wings right now,” Gray grumbled, finally pushing himself onto the rock. “How much further?” 

“Not far,” Natsu assured them. “Just the rest of the way up this hill.” 

“This isn’t a hill, it’s a fucking mountain,” Gray said, before taking a deep breath and looking towards the horizon. “I don’t think you have to be worried about anyone finding this place accidentally. How the hell did  _ you _ even find this place?” 

“I’ve lived here my whole life,” Natsu said. He’d never had to find this place on his own. He’d just always known it was here. 

“Really?” Erza asked. “You were born on Magnolia?” 

“I…” Natsu shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know about that…” He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on that, and he didn’t want to tell Erza and Gray about his past just yet. “Come on, we’re almost there!” He bounced on his toes, and took off again, ignoring the strange look that Gray and Erza exchanged. 

* * *

Erza didn’t know what she was expecting from Natsu’s home, but what she got certainly wasn’t it. Maybe it was thanks to Natsu’s more… animalistic nature, but she realized she’d subconsciously come to the conclusion that he probably just lived in some kind of cave. 

And well… that technically  _ was _ true, but if she was being honest, the cave was nicer than the house she shared with Makarov. It was much larger than she’d been expecting, but all the furnishings were further inside, likely to protect against the elements. There was wooden furniture, a table, some chairs, even some bookshelves. Gorgeous tapestries were hung from the walls, and draped over the furniture. A roaring fire blazed in a fire pit, keeping the cave nice and toasty. And of course, there were piles and piles of gold and silver and gems in the corners, on shelves, flowing out of too-full drawers. 

Where the hell was Natsu  _ getting _ all of this!? 

“Oh my gods…” Gray gasped, glancing around in disbelief. “He’s living nicer than all of us combined.” 

Erza was distracted from her gaping by someone running out of one of the smaller tunnels. “Natsu!” 

“Hey, Wendy!” he grinned. “I brought some friends!” 

The little girl skidded to a halt a few feet away, and stared up at Gray and Erza with wide eyes. 

Erza couldn’t help the soft noise that escaped her. Wendy was so  _ small; _ she was barely half Natsu’s size! And even how dragon she was, couldn’t make her intimidating at all. Her wings were dotted sporadically with shining white scales, but were mostly covered in fluffy white fur. The same fur covered her shoulders, and she had patches of it on her forearms and legs, as well as a few scale patches. A couple stripes made of scales sliced up her cheeks, and small, delicate antlers sprouted from her head. 

“This is Erza and Gray,” Natsu continued, gesturing to them. “They’re the ones I told you about!” 

Wendy’s eyes lit up, and she smiled, showing off her mouthful of fangs. “Really?” She sprang forward, and began to circle around them, sniffing at them. 

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you, Wendy,” Erza said, leaning down so that they were eye level. 

Wendy squeaked and leaned back. “H-Hello.” She turned back to look at Natsu. “Are they staying for dinner?” 

“Uh… _Are_ you staying for dinner?” Natsu asked. 

Erza shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t. I’ll have to leave soon, for work.” 

Wendy’s expression fell, her wings and ears drooping. “Oh…” 

“But Gray will stay!” Erza hurried to assure her.  _ “Won’t _ you, Gray?” she said whilst giving him a fierce glare, daring him to let this little girl down. 

“Uh…” Gray’s entire body stiffened. “S-Sure, yeah, I’ll… stay for dinner.” He awkwardly patted Wendy on the head. 

The little dragon practically beamed. “I’ll go check the traps!” She sprinted out of the cave, not even bothering to put shoes on. 

“She likes to cook,” Natsu explained. “Um…” He glanced around. “We… don’t have a lot of stuff, mostly old things we’ve found around the island, and… Gajeel helped me make most of the furniture forever ago, but…” He shifted from foot to foot. “It’s messy.” 

“Oh, Natsu, it’s fine,” Erza assured him. “It is  _ extremely _ nice, especially considering the location.” She stepped further into the cave, deciding she wanted to inspect some of the furnishings a little closer. 

She couldn’t say she was surprised over the fact that Natsu had evidently found most of these things around the island. No one really knew where the ancient art, weapons, books, or anything like that came from, but they were scattered all over the world. The merchants she worked for actually specialized in finding and selling it. 

The current theory was that it was linked to the old ways of magic, and all the nonhuman creatures that used to exist, but… it had never been proven. 

Personally, Erza wasn’t sure where she thought it came from. She’d just accepted it as a mystery that would never be solved. 

But she did like that at least some of the items went to Natsu and Wendy, and not all of them were being sold to the rich to be kept as status symbols. 

“Where do you sleep?” she found herself asking. She didn’t see a bed anywhere. 

Natsu pointed towards the smaller tunnel that Wendy had come from. “In there. It’s warmer during the winter, more cozy.” 

“Oh.” Erza supposed that made sense. 

“I’m gonna go help Wendy with the traps,” Natsu said. “You two can… stay here, look around. I’ll be right back.” 

Erza hummed, and nodded, too busy inspecting a tapestry containing what looked like might be fairies to really pay attention to him. 

After he was gone, Gray crept over to stand next to her. “He’s twitchy about something,” he said. 

“Yeah…” Erza sighed and shook her head. “Maybe it’s just because we’re where he lives and seeing his sister? Obviously he’s never really… experienced that before, except for Gajeel.” The other hybrid, that had vanished several years ago, according to what Gray had told her. 

“Maybe,” Gray said. “And fucking  _ thanks _ for leaving me here alone!” 

“Hey, you were the one who suggested coming here in the first place,” she argued. “Besides, were you  _ really _ going to tell that girl no?” 

“I—” Gray cut himself off and groaned. “No, I wasn’t.” 

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” she chuckled. “I’ll stick around until Natsu gets back so I can tell him bye, but then I’m going to have to go. Let me know how it goes when you get back, though?” 

“Yeah, ‘course I will.” 

* * *

“You didn’t tell me you gave them presents.” 

Natsu frowned, and looked up at the tree branch Wendy was perched on. “Get down here. Did you check the traps already?” 

She nodded, and fluttered back to the ground. “Two rabbits and a squirrel. I’ll take the squirrel, you and your  _ friend _ can have the rabbits.” 

Natsu’s frown deepened. “It’s not like that.” 

Wendy raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s not!” he protested. 

His sister snorted in disbelief. “You gave them some of your favorite treasures,  _ and _ you brought them over.” 

“I—!” he began indignantly. 

“You  _ like _ them!” Wendy shouted, a teasing smile on her face as she pointed at him. “You like them, and you want to court them!” 

Natsu surged forward and grabbed her, shoving his hand over her mouth. He knew human senses were incredibly dull, but he still didn’t know the extent of their abilities, and the last thing he wanted was to risk Gray and Erza overhearing Wendy’s shouting. “Shut up, you little gremlin!” 

Wendy squirmed, and bit down on his fingers. 

_ “Ow!” _ Natsu yelped, jerking his hand back and staring at the blood dripping down his fingers. “Gods, you’re a menace.” 

Wendy stuck her tongue out at him. 

Natsu growled. “You’re not going to say anything to them about it, got it?” 

“Why not?” she whined. “You like them!” 

“They’re  _ humans,” _ he reminded her. “Humans, who have better things to do than put up with me…” They’d already risked so much for him, and besides… they hadn’t seemed interested in any of his romantic advances at all. Sure, they seemed to like the gifts that he’d given them, Gray even wore his, but… 

“But you told me they can use magic!” Wendy continued to argue. “And you know that humans who can use magic are—” 

Natsu shook his head. “Igneel and Grandine said they  _ thought _ so, that doesn’t make it true. Besides, it’s not like it matters anyways. They’re not  _ interested.”  _

“You can’t know that if you haven’t even told them!” 

“I gave them gifts. I'm touchy with them. I even told Gray I liked him! They don’t care…” he muttered. 

“Natsu, they’re humans,” Wendy said. 

“I  _ know _ that!” 

“No, Natsu, they’re  _ humans.” _ Wendy shook her head and sighed. “Honestly… did it never even cross your mind that humans might have different ways of telling others that they’re interested in each other like that? Even if they don’t, they accepted your gifts! They’re both wearing them right now.” 

Natsu’s eyes widened.  _ “Oh…” _ He’d never even  _ thought _ about that. Did Gray and Erza really have no idea that he liked them? 

“Yeah.  _ Oh.” _ Wendy took his hand. “Let’s get the animals from the traps, and then  _ maybe _ you can actually tell them?” 

“Y-Yeah… okay.” 

* * *

Erza left with a hasty goodbye as soon as Natsu and Wendy got back, though both dragons seemed a little upset about her leaving. 

Gray brushed it off as Natsu’s normal disappointment when they had to leave, and Wendy was probably just upset that the new person she’d just met had to leave so soon. 

“How long are you going to stay?” Wendy asked Gray as she skinned one of the rabbits they’d caught. 

“Uh… until dinner is done, I guess.” The sun was going to be setting soon, and Gray really didn’t want to walk through the woods alone in the dark. “I can’t stay too long if I want to get home before dark.” 

“You could stay here for the night,” Wendy said, offering him a big smile. “We have plenty of room! And it’s so warm and cozy.” 

“Um…” Gray looked to Natsu, who was busy roasting the animals that had already been skinned over the fire. “Is that alright with you?” 

“Yeah! If you want to,” he said with a smile. 

“Okay, then sure.” At least now he wouldn’t have to try and rush getting home. Even if it was going to be a bit… odd to stay in this dragon den. 

Gray thought Wendy might have smirked, but he wasn’t sure, and she got up to hand Natsu the remaining rabbit. 

* * *

Dinner went by without anything strange. The rabbit was a little… charred for Gray’s taste, but he wasn’t about to tell Natsu that. That, and it was better than Wendy’s, she was practically eating it raw. After they were done eating, Natsu and Wendy excitedly showed Gray some of their favorite possessions. Mostly it was a bunch of gems and shiny jewelry. Gray still didn’t think he would get over how much  _ money _ was just  _ sitting _ in this cave. 

He’d also learned that Wendy was almost as clingy as Natsu was. She crawled into his lap every time she wanted to show him something, and clung onto his arm as she led him around the cave to show him around. 

She was a sweet girl, but just like Natsu, seemed to have no real idea on how to socialize. Gray wasn’t sure if he wanted to blame it on them living out here alone with only each other for so long, or how much of it was because their brains actually processed things differently due to their dragon half. 

Currently, they were sitting by the fire. The sun had gone down a couple hours ago, and small snow flurries were falling, yet it was still perfectly warm in the cave. Despite that, Natsu had draped a blanket over Gray’s shoulders, insisting humans needed to stay warmer. 

Wendy had fallen asleep, her head resting in Gray’s lap. Her little antlers poking him was a touch uncomfortable, but he could deal with it. “Hey, Natsu?” 

“Hm?” The dragon raised his head, looking at him from across the fire. 

“Would you leave if Wendy came with you?” he asked. 

“Why do you want me to leave so bad?” 

“It’s not that I want you to  _ leave,” _ Gray said. He’d be upset for a long time if Natsu left and he never got to see him again. “But it’d be safer for you, and her.” He softly stroked the fur on Wendy’s shoulders. 

“But we’ve lived here forever!” he protested. “And I don’t wanna leave you or Erza.” 

Gray took a deep breath. “What if… what if Erza went with you?” 

“Huh?” Natsu got up to come sit next to him. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

Gray glanced away from him, letting his hair fall into his eyes. The idea had come to him about a week ago, and he’d been thinking about it ever since. The  _ last _ thing he wanted was to lose his best friend, and Natsu, but if it meant that they were  _ safe… _ “Erza could go with you. This island isn’t a safe place for her either. Those people treat her terribly, and it’s only a matter of time before they expose her magic to everyone. The three of you could escape together, and live together, somewhere a lot safer than here.” Makarov would be upset, letting Erza go like that, especially after what had happened with Laxus, but he would understand if Gray told him the truth, and he’d encourage her to go as well. 

“But what about you?” Natsu asked, leaning even closer. “You’ll come with us?” 

“I… No, I won’t.” Gray forced himself to look the dragon in the eye. “I can’t leave without Lyon and Ultear.” Besides, he’d still have Cana, and Mirajane, and Levy, and everyone else. It wouldn’t be the same, but he could adapt. 

“But I don’t wanna leave you!” Natsu protested, loud enough that Wendy twitched in her sleep. “Erza won’t want to either!” 

“Natsu, you wouldn’t even entertain the thought of leaving without Wendy,” Gray said. “It’s the same for me.” It didn’t matter that by now, Lyon and Ultear were probably… No, no he wouldn’t even  _ think _ about that. “And… and I’ll talk to Erza about it, she’ll understand.” 

She most definitely would  _ not, _ but that would be Gray’s problem to deal with, not Natsu’s. 

“But—!” 

Gray shook his head. “No, Natsu. I won’t leave. But please, please will you at least consider it?” He didn’t know what he would do if something happened to Natsu, or gods forbid the little girl sleeping in his lap. And finally getting Erza out of that hellhole would be an added bonus. 

Natsu fidgeted with his scarf. “If… if Wendy and Erza come, too… I’ll… I’ll think about it.” He glanced around the cave, like he was trying to imagine leaving his home. 

“Thank you.” Gray resumed petting Wendy’s fur, a tension he hadn’t even realized was there leaving his body as Natsu  _ finally _ agreed to consider leaving. 

The dragon leaned against him, resting his chin on Gray’s shoulder. “But I don’t wanna leave you…” He reached up to stroke Gray’s hair. “You’ll be all alone…” 

Gray sighed, used to Natsu’s careless touches by now. “I won’t be alone,” he assured him. “I have other friends.” Sure, he may not be as close to them as he was with Erza, or necessarily even Natsu by now… but it wasn’t like he would have  _ no one. _

“Erza loves you,” Natsu continued. “She’ll be sad.” 

Gray’s shoulders drooped. “Erza doesn’t love me, Natsu. Not like that.” She didn’t now, and he doubted she ever would. Which was fine. He had always known that, which was why he’d never admitted to anyone that he  _ did _ love her. He didn’t want to put her in that position. “We’ve known each other for a long time, and I know she doesn’t. But it’s okay. I’ll miss her, but I’ll get over it, and wherever you end up, she’ll find a new best friend. Hell, it’ll probably be you.” 

The dying fire gleamed in Natsu’s eyes. “Will you miss me? If I go?” 

“Of course I will,” Gray said. He really did wish he’d gotten more time to get to know the dragon. “But… what I want and how I feel doesn’t matter. Not when it comes to this.”

“My dad told me dragons will wait a long time for those they care about,” Natsu said, turning away to gaze into the fire. “We’ll wait on you. If we go, we’ll wait on you. And you can come after you find your brother and sister.” 

Gray smiled at the thought, and he couldn’t bring himself to point out that the world was a big place. Even if he  _ did _ get the chance to try and find Natsu and Erza again, the chances were slim. Especially if they did the smart thing and got as far away from Magnolia as possible, and  _ hid.  _ “That’s… sweet, but you don’t have to.” 

“I want to,” Natsu said. “I  _ want _ to wait for you if you can’t come right now.” He managed to press even closer to Gray. 

Gray stared at the dragon, desperately trying to figure out what Natsu  _ meant. _ Because, for the life of him, Gray didn’t know what was happening right now. 

“I gave you this, because…” Natsu paused, and brushed his fingers across the diamond necklace. “Because dragons give presents to the ones they— they want to court. I-I thought you knew that, but you never said anything, so I assumed you didn’t want to…” He turned his head away. “But then Wendy pointed out that you might not know.” 

Hesitantly, Gray reached up to touch the necklace. “You…” Sure, when he’d been given the gift, he remembered thinking there was something else going on, but he never would have thought… 

Every time Gray thought that Natsu was being clueless or tactless, he was really… 

“Shit, I should have realized.” He let his hand fall away from the necklace. “Erza’s knife mean the same thing?” 

Natsu nodded. 

“Stupid dragon,” Gray muttered. “How the hell were we supposed to know that?” 

“Wha—” Natsu sat up straight. “Why  _ wouldn’t _ you know that? What the hell do humans do instead?” 

Gray snorted with laughter. “Just tell each other.  _ Then _ we start giving each other presents.” 

“That’s backwards!” Natsu argued. 

“Whatever you say,” Gray said with a shrug, still just trying to wrap his head around the fact that Natsu had decided he wanted to date him almost immediately. Fuck, he wanted to date Erza, too! 

Not that Gray minded. Having both of them… it would be  _ amazing. _ But he knew that Erza didn’t love him in that way (he had no idea how she felt about Natsu), and that didn’t change the fact that they both needed to leave. 

_ Without _ him. 

“Natsu…” 

“You’re gonna tell me no,” Natsu said, his voice dejected. “Because you want me to leave without you.” 

“I— Yeah…” Gray took a shaky breath. “It’s not that I don’t… I would like to try that with you, Natsu. Really, I would. But I can’t… Not if you leave, and you  _ need _ to.” 

The dragon leaned over, and softly licked Gray’s cheek, a sad look in his eyes. 

“Humans don’t do that,” Gray reminded him. 

“Then what do they do?” Natsu asked. 

Gray knew he shouldn’t. Not if he wanted to let Natsu go, but he just couldn’t help himself. “They do this.” 

Gently, he took the dragon’s face in his hands, and pulled him closer, pressing their lips together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wendy is a menace, as all little sisters are, and I won't accept criticism


	12. Chapter 12

Gray woke up with Natsu’s arm wrapped around his waist, and the dragon’s face buried in the crook of his neck. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up so warm, even when he stayed with Erza. 

He sighed, regret and guilt already flooding through him. _Why_ had he kissed Natsu last night? He shouldn’t have  _ done _ that. He shouldn’t have done that, and he shouldn’t have let Natsu convince him to share the only bed they had. He should have just slept on the floor. 

Gray risked shifting around, trying to see if Wendy was still asleep. He didn’t see her in the mass of blankets and pillows, so she’d probably already gotten up. 

“Gods, I’m a fucking idiot,” he muttered, going limp again and letting Natsu tug him closer. 

He was supposed to tell Natsu  _ no. _ That they couldn’t do this, that it wasn’t fair to either one of them. Gray knew the dragon was going to leave, and he didn’t want to trick himself into thinking that he could actually  _ have this. _ That… and he knew Natsu had meant what he’d said last night. He knew that he would stubbornly wait on Gray to find him again one day, and that wasn’t right. Gray wasn’t worth something like that. 

But it felt so wrong to tell Natsu no after what had happened last night. 

“Hello.” 

“Gods!” Gray jumped, dislodging Natsu and causing the dragon to whine, but he still didn’t wake up. 

“Did you sleep alright?” Wendy asked as she crept back into the bedroom. Her hair was still messy from sleep, but it appeared that she’d been up for a while. 

“I… yeah, yeah, I did.” He shot Natsu a wary look, not wanting to wake him up and have to have the conversation he  _ knew _ was coming. 

“He won’t be waking up anytime soon,” Wendy said. “He’s basically impossible to wake up.” She climbed back into the bed next to Gray. “Are you… really going to make us leave?” 

“So you were awake for that, huh?” He wondered how much of their conversation last night she’d heard. Though Gray could admit, he’d hoped Natsu would be the one to tell Wendy they needed to leave. 

“Yeah…” she admitted. “Natsu really likes you, so I wanted… I hoped you would…” Her wings curled around her body. “But you want us to leave…” 

“Aw, come on, kid.” Gray wormed his way out of Natsu’s hold so he could sit up. “It ain’t like that. I just… This island isn’t a safe place for you.” 

“But we’ve been here for a long time!” Wendy protested. 

“I know, and I’m sorry you have to leave, but I’m sure you can find somewhere else you can live,” he told her. 

“B-But if we leave, our parents might not… they won’t know where we went, a-and they won’t be able to find us again,” she sniffled, and to Gray’s horror, tears began to build in her eyes. 

_ Oh, shit! _ Gray had no idea what to do with kids. Let alone  _ crying _ kids. Kids who were crying because they had to leave their childhood home, and something about missing parents? “Don’t cry,” he said uselessly. “You don’t have to cry.” 

Wendy threw herself at Gray, clinging onto his torso and burying her face in his chest, trying to muffle her crying. 

He reached around her wings to rub soothing circles on her back. “Sh, sh…” Gray really didn’t want Natsu to wake up and see his sister crying. Sure, he doubted the dragon would blame him, but considering how protective Natsu was… “What’s this about your parents?” 

Gray could admit that he had wondered where Natsu and Wendy had come from. He figured it would be a hell of a lot harder for full-blooded dragons to remain hidden the way that they did, and if they’d always been on the island, surely the dragon had to have been here at one point. 

“They left us one day…” Wendy whispered, tightening her hold on Gray. “Th-They were just gone… a-and we always hoped they’d come back one day… but if we leave… they won’t know where to find us…” 

Gray sighed, and wondered if that was another reason Natsu was so reluctant to leave, and just didn’t want to admit to that. “How long ago?” 

“Eight years…” she hiccuped. 

Gray bit his lip, and had to force himself to keep his mouth shut. Eight years… they’d been waiting for their parents to return for  _ eight years. _ Gray didn’t think they were going to come back. Especially considering how many people were out to capture and kill dragons,  _ especially _ pure-blooded dragons. They were even more rare than the hybrids by now. “Your human parent disappeared, too?” 

“Human parent?” Wendy pulled back and looked up at him, confusion shining in her eyes. 

“Yeah…” Gray’s eyebrows knitted together. “What happened to them?” 

“You think we’re human.” She jerked back. “You think we’re…” 

“W-Well… yeah, you  _ are,” _ he said. “Half human, right? That’s… you have to be.” Pure-blooded dragons almost always looked like giant lizards, or at least, that was what Gray had always been told. And the hybrids, the children of humans and dragons, when the dragons took on a more human form for whatever reason, had a form that looked like a mixture of both species. They didn’t even have the ability to shift forms like their dragon parents. 

Slowly, Wendy shook her head. “Gray, no… no we’re not. We’re not human at all.” 

“But you… you look—” 

A soft, rumbling growl interrupted, and Natsu slowly sat up, yawning and showing off his fangs. “Mornin,’ Gray.” 

“You’re not human?” Gray demanded, not even bothering to give him the chance to wake up. 

Natsu blinked a few times. “Huh…?” 

“Wendy told me you’re not human at all, but that doesn’t make sense!” he exclaimed. “You’re half human!” 

“No, m’not,” he said with another yawn, before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “The hell are you talking about? You…” His entire body stiffened. “You thought I was…” 

“You’re a pure-blooded dragon!?” Gray shouted, jumping out of the bed, leaving Wendy and Natsu to stare at him like  _ he _ was the crazy one. “I thought you were half-human!” 

Natsu sat up straight, the blankets and pillows tumbling off his body. “Who the hell told you I had any human in me?” 

“Yeah, who told you that?” Wendy asked, scooting over so she could sit next to her brother. They both cocked their heads, and dammit, it was adorable, but that wasn’t what Gray wanted or needed to be focusing on at the moment. 

“E-Everyone knows that dragon hybrids look like… that you… You're the kids of a dragon and human, aren’t you!?” What the hell else could they  _ be!?  _

“No…” Wendy shook her head. “Both our parents were dragons… What do you think dragons look like, Gray?” 

“Wha— Big lizards!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms out to exaggerate the size. “Like… like big giant lizards with wings and spines and shit! Are you telling me that’s  _ wrong?” _

“Well… no…” Wendy said as she exchanged a look with Natsu. “Dragons can look like that. But… not  _ all _ of us do… especially when we’re so young… we’re not powerful enough to change forms yet…” 

“Hold on… I need to—” Gray backed away until he was leaned against the wall of the cave, trying to wrap his mind around what he’d just been told. 

Natsu and Wendy weren’t human  _ at all. _ They were pure dragon, not a scrap of anything else. Yes, sure, Gray knew shape shifting was an ability that dragons had, but did that mean… 

That everyone was  _ wrong _ about them? Had any of the information they  _ thought _ they had on dragons been correct? 

And Wendy said they couldn’t change forms yet because they were  _ young. _ “Does that mean… that eventually you’re just going to… to look like regular dragons one day?” 

Natsu rolled his eyes. “We look like regular dragons now.” 

“You know what I mean!” Gray couldn’t help but snap. 

“No, probably not,” Wendy said. “We might get the ability to shift into a form like that one day, but Mom always said because these were the forms we were  _ born _ in, these were our true forms, and how we would stay our whole lives.” 

“I can’t believe you thought we were human!” Natsu laughed so hard that he fell backwards. “That’s great! Ew! Humans are terrible!” 

“Hey!” he shouted. “I thought you liked me! And Erza!” 

“Eh…” Natsu rolled over. “But you’re magic users. It’s different. Come lay back down, it’s early.” 

“I…” Gray shook his head. Did Natsu not realize how big of a revelation this was? And it definitely wasn’t early. Gray’s internal body clock was enough to tell him that. “Natsu, I should probably go.” He needed to check up on Erza, make sure her shift had gone okay. And… and he really shouldn’t give Natsu anymore hope regarding this… this relationship. 

“Aw, do you have to?” Wendy whined, before her brother even got the chance to protest. 

“Hey, Wendy, can you give us a minute?” Natsu requested quietly. 

She muttered something under her breath, but climbed out of the bed and shuffled back into the main part of the cave. 

“I can’t believe you never told me you were completely a dragon,” Gray said, shaking his head and scoffing. 

“You’re the one who assumed I was part human,” Natsu refuted. 

“I think you just never explain anything to anyone.” Gray could understand not telling them about Wendy, but he’d never actually said he was a full dragon, nor did he explain that he wanted to date them until Wendy made him. “So are any of the supposed dragon hybrids people have met actually hybrids?” 

Natsu shrugged. “How should I know?” 

“Yeah, guess that’s fair.” Gray finally pushed himself back off the wall. “Guess it’s our own fault for never treating you guys right and actually learning about you, huh? Humans just assumed we knew everything.” 

“Are you still going to tell me no?” Natsu asked softly. 

“I’m sorry…” Gray stepped over to sit down next to him. “I really am. I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have kissed you last night. Hell, I shouldn’t have  _ stayed _ last night. I just… I want you to be happy. And maybe you can be with Erza! I just don’t want you to waste your life waiting for me to try and catch up.”  _ Especially when I probably never will.  _

“But I don’t care about that!” Natsu protested, pushing himself up and practically shoving himself into Gray’s lap. “I don’t!” 

“I know you say that now—” 

“But—” 

“No, Natsu!” Gray said firmly. “No…” He pushed the dragon back. “I’m sorry, but… but I can’t do this.” He stood up, and picked his coat up off the floor. “I’ll talk to Erza about going with you, and I’ll see you in a few days, alright? I…” He let out a deep breath, unable to look Natsu in the eye. “Bye, Natsu.” 

“Gray!” 

He shook his head and put his coat on, hoping that Natsu didn’t try to follow him. 

Thankfully he didn’t, and Wendy was nowhere to be seen as he left the cave. As he made his way back down the mountain and through the woods, Gray considered taking off the diamond necklace, now that he knew what it meant. 

But he just couldn’t bring himself to. 

* * *

Erza yawned so wide her jaw ached. As glad as she was that she’d gone to Natsu’s the previous day, she really was exhausted, since she hadn’t had the time for her usual nap before her shift. The only reason she hadn’t fallen asleep during it was because Jellal had stayed with her to keep her company and talk to her. 

She couldn’t wait to get home and go to sleep. 

“Erza!” 

The redhead nearly groaned, but she forced herself to turn around and smile. “Hey, Mira. What’s up?” It wasn’t necessarily unusual to run into Mirajane on her morning walk home, the barmaid was always out and about, constantly socializing, but Erza really did just want to go home today. 

“Have you seen Gray anywhere?” she asked, her tone ringing with worry. 

“Um… not since last night,” she said. It was highly likely he was still with Natsu, and if he was, Erza had no idea when he might be getting back. “Why? What’s wrong?” 

Mirajane’s gaze darted around, like she was making sure none of the people passing by were listening, and Erza’s concern only grew. Had something happened? “Oh gods, it’s not Cana, is it?” It had been a while since she’d had an incident, which probably meant she was getting bold again. 

“No, no,” Mirajane was quick to assure her. “At least, I hope she's not gotten into anything recently. But please, help me find him? It’s Ultear and Lyon.” 


	13. Chapter 13

“Lyon and Ultear?” Erza repeated. “They’re finally back?” Oh, Gray would be  _ relieved.  _ He’d finally be able to relax again, now that his siblings had returned safely. 

“Yes, they are,” Mirajane said, though something in her tone was…  _ off. _ “But it’s bad, Erza. It’s really bad. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re going to have to go into hiding.” 

_ Oh gods. _ Erza’s first thought was that they’d been caught doing magic. Sure, that was bad, but they could deal with it. Ultear and Lyon could go stay with Laxus, or hell, maybe even Natsu and Wendy were an option, they seemed to be doing well enough out in the forest. But something in Mirajane’s tone, her eyes, told Erza that it was something far more complex than that. “What happened? Gods, they’re  _ alive, _ aren’t they?” 

“Yes, yes, they’re alive,” Mirajane hurried to assure her. “They’re at our place right now, they showed up on our doorstep in the middle of the night. I went to Makarov’s to find Gray, but he wasn’t there! Please, help me find him?” 

“Mira, what actually happened?” Erza asked, worry and concern shaking off any of her tiredness from earlier. “I… Gray will be back later. We’re just going to have to wait for him to get back.” Likely, he was already coming back from Natsu’s, but the walk would take a few hours, at the least. 

Mirajane didn’t look happy about it. “They want to see him, before they make any decisions about what to do next.” 

“Mira! What  _ happened!?” _ Erza snapped. 

The other woman took a deep breath. “It’ll just be easier to show you. Come with me.” 

* * *

“Lisanna? I couldn’t find Gray, but I did find Erza,” Mirajane said as soon as they stepped inside. “Go out and help Elfman look for him, would you?” 

Lisanna bounded down the stairs, already buttoning up her coat. “Sure thing, Mira. They’re in there on the couch. I gave them some tea and told them to try and get some sleep. I doubt they will though.” The youngest Strauss tried to smile at Erza, but it was very forced. “I won’t come back until I’ve found Gray!” 

Erza almost told her there was no point, but it seemed like Lisanna just wanted something to do, so she didn’t bother to try and stop her. 

“Lyon? Ultear?” Mirajane called softly as she stepped from the entryway into the living room. “I’ve brought Erza. Is that alright?” 

There was a beat of silence, before Ultear said, “Yeah… yeah, that’s fine.” Her voice was hoarse, scratchy, and… shaky. Nothing like Ultear’s normal tone. 

Mirajane nodded, and moved out of the way, letting Erza make her way into the living room. 

Lyon and Ultear were huddled on the couch, wrapped in as many blankets as they could find. Even their hands were covered by the blankets, as they gripped their mugs of tea. Erza couldn’t even tell which one of them was which, until Ultear shifted, and some of her hair tumbled out from underneath the blanket awkwardly draped over her head. 

“Guys?” Erza crept closer, feeling like she was approaching a scared animal. “What happened? Why were you so late getting back? Gray’s been really worried.” 

Mirajane sighed, and went to light some more candles, bringing some more light into the room, though Erza wasn’t sure why she didn’t just open the curtains to let the sunlight in. Even if Ultear and Lyon needed to remain hidden, the Strausses’ house was on the outskirts of town. She doubted any random people were going to see the siblings through a window and spread it around. Not to mention, if their magic had been exposed during their job, chances were, it would take  _ at least _ a couple weeks to spread to Magnolia that Ultear Milkovich and Lyon Vastia-Milkovich had magic. 

“You can come out,” Mirajane coaxed gently when they didn’t answer Erza’s questions. “No one can see in. No one can see  _ you.” _

_ “I _ don’t want to see me!” Lyon snapped. 

“Lyon…” Ultear muttered. 

Erza pulled one of the extra chairs closer to the couch and sat down, resting her elbows on her knees. She wasn’t known for her patience, and were it not for Mirajane’s warning glares, she might have yanked the blankets off the pair of them. 

Ultear took a deep breath, and shook the blankets off. 

Erza couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her, and one of her hands shot up to cover her mouth. 

White, curving horns jutted out from Ultear’s hair, contrasting brilliantly with her deep purple hair. Glowing purple and blue markings swirled over her skin, and her pupils had turned to slits. The blanket fell away from her hand, revealing small claws on the tips of her fingers. 

“What… the hell?” Erza shook her head helplessly. “You— What  _ happened?” _ She’d only seen something like this once before, and that was with Laxus. But that was because his mother had been a dragon hybrid. He’d looked completely human when he was younger, but as he aged, he’d slowly transformed into something similar to Natsu, though without the wings or horns. But it was still something that hadn’t been able to be hidden, and he’d had to go into hiding. 

Except his transformation had been  _ gradual, _ and was due to his non-human mother. As far as Erza knew, Lyon and Ultear’s parents were completely human! 

“Lyon? Do you look the same?” she asked. 

Sullen silence greeted her. Lyon didn’t so much as  _ move. _

“He’s not taking it very well,” Ultear said quietly, bowing her head. 

“I don’t know what you expect me to do,” her brother growled. “I look like a fucking freak! I look even worse than you!” 

“I don’t understand,” Erza said. “How could this happen? You have  _ ice magic! _ Not transformation magic!” 

“It’s not transformation magic,” Mirajane said. “Trust me. This… whatever it is, this is permanent.” 

Lyon flinched. 

“Ultear, please tell me what happened,” Erza requested. 

The other woman took a deep breath. “We went to Crocus for that job. Except we were stupid, bit off more than we could chew, and we got caught. They figured out we broke in using our magic pretty quick. Except on the bigger islands, they don’t just spread it around until some random angry mob decides they want to hang you. They… They gave us to this fucking crazy bastard. I was too out of it to understand what all he was doing to us, how he managed  _ this, _ but apparently it’s pretty common practice to  _ experiment _ on magic users. We  _ are _ less than human after all, it’s only fair we look the part, huh?” 

“Oh my gods…” She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before.” Not from the people she worked with, or Jellal. “Ultear, I’m so sorry.” 

“We’re going to have to live out in the deep woods,” she moaned. “We can’t— We can’t hide  _ this!” _

“How did you get away?” she asked. 

“Moron that did this to us either didn’t know or notice that it made our magic more powerful too,” Ultear answered. “And we’re good at breaking  _ into _ places. Just did the reverse and stowed away on some ships. Gods, we were so lucky we didn’t get caught. They’d sell us like damn livestock!” 

Erza could say nothing to console her about that, because she knew it was true. How Natsu had been treated was proof enough of that. “Well… I’m glad you got back safely. Like I said… Gray was very worried. He’ll be relieved that you’re back…” Though Erza knew he wouldn’t react well at all, learning what they’d gone through. 

“They’re going to be looking for us,” Lyon said. “We can’t just stay here. They’ll track us back here eventually. It would have been bad enough if we just got caught doing magic, but now that we’re these— these  _ things—” _ he spit. “They aren’t just going to let us  _ go!” _

“Oh, stop hiding, Lyon.” Ultear lunged over and ripped the blanket off of him. 

Lyon hissed, and nearly spilled his tea in his attempt to get the blanket back from his sister. 

Lyon may not have had the same horns as his sister, but his changes were just as noticeable, just as jarring. Pointed ears jutted out from his hair, and they twitched towards the smallest sounds. Shiny scales that looked almost like fresh frost crawled across the left side of his face, creeping up from his neck. Fangs poked over his bottom lip, and his claws were even larger than Ultear’s. His sclera had turned black, making his silver irises stand out even more. 

“Did they… were they trying to make you into dragon hybrids?” Erza asked. They certainly shared some similarities with them. 

Ultear shrugged. “I don’t fucking know. The creepy guy didn’t tell us shit, he just  _ did _ it.” 

Erza took a deep breath. Ultear and Lyon were right about one thing. They couldn’t stay in the village anymore. If even a single normal person saw them, they were done for. “I think I know somewhere you can stay, while we figure out a more permanent solution.” 

“With that Laxus brute?” Lyon grumbled, still trying to get the blanket wrapped around him again. 

Erza shook her head. “No.” She doubted Laxus would take that very well. “No, it’s… it’s not with someone you know.” 

“Then like hell I’m going!” Lyon argued. “I’m not staying—” 

“It’s where Gray is at right now,” Erza interrupted. “Trust me. It’s probably the safest place you could go right now.” She turned to look at Mirajane, who had just been hovering in the doorway, listening to the conversation. “Mira, please go get Levy and Lucy. I need to talk to them.” 

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be back soon.” She took her coat off the hook by the door, and rushed outside. 

“Where’s Gray at?” Ultear asked, narrowing her eyes. “Why the hell isn’t he with you?” 

Erza took a deep breath. “He’s with a dragon. A dragon that we helped escape from the people I work for. They were going to sell him.” 

“I  _ knew _ you morons were up to something!” Lyon accused. 

“Yes, well, have a little sympathy, Lyon!” Erza couldn’t help but snap. “If the wrong person sees you, you’ll be in the same damn mess!” 

Lyon’s shoulders hunched, and he growled at her, much like Natsu might have done. 

Chills raced down Erza’s spine, and realized that whatever this was ran deeper than just some superficial changes. 

“Look,” she said. “He lives out in the deep woods, and it’s actually really nice. I’m sure he won’t mind sharing with you, at least until we get this figured out.” 

Chances were, Gray had spent the entire night trying to convince Natsu and Wendy to leave Magnolia, and well… if it came down to it, Lyon and Ultear could flee with them. Which was why she’d sent Mirajane to get Levy and Lucy. They needed help finding a good island, and working out how many supplies so many people would need for a trip like that. 

“Calm down, Lyon,” Ultear said. “What she’s saying makes sense. We can’t exactly keep hiding here.” 

“Fine,” he grumbled. 

“Good.” Erza stood up, and headed towards the bedrooms. “Now, I’m exhausted, so I’m going to take a nap, until everyone else gets back and we can start figuring out an actual plan.” She glanced over her shoulder, and her heart fractured as she took in how  _ scared _ Lyon and Ultear actually were. “And I really am sorry that this happened to you.” 

* * *

When Gray had run into Lisanna on the edge of town, he’d been ecstatic. Lyon and Ultear were back! Not only did that mean his siblings were  _ alive, _ that they were okay, but maybe… maybe he wouldn’t have to say goodby to Erza and Natsu now! Unfortunately, Lisanna had brought on a whole new wave of worry. 

“They’re not okay, Gray,” she’d said. “Something went very, very wrong.” 

He still wasn’t prepared to actually see them. To learn that they’d been  _ experimented  _ on. He couldn’t help but wonder… if he had gone with them, would they have still gotten caught? 

“I know that look, dipshit,” Ultear growled. “If you’d been with us, you’d just be in the same damn mess. Now, explain to me this dragon you’ve been hanging out with.” 

“That’s not important right now!” he shouted. “You— You— Gods, I’m  _ sorry.” _ Their lives were  _ ruined. _ They’d always hoped to get off the streets one day, to get an actual home, real jobs. But that wasn’t even a  _ possibility _ anymore.

Lyon looked away, and Ultear shifted uncomfortably. 

“I’m— I’m gonna help you, alright?” he promised them. “Natsu and his little sister are going to leave Magnolia, and… and I’m gonna tell Erza to go, too. You’ll—  _ We’ll _ just go with them. Get somewhere safe, start over!” 

“Start over where, Gray?” Ultear asked. “We’re done. We can’t go anywhere, except an abandoned island, or the deep wild. There’s no  _ starting over. _ We’re going to end up living somewhere completely isolated, surviving like fucking animals.” 

“But we’ll be with you, too!” he argued. “You won’t just be  _ alone!” _

“I don’t want to live out in the fucking woods,” Lyon muttered darkly. “I  _ don’t.” _

“You don’t have an  _ option,” _ Gray said. “I’m just… just trying to… to come up with the best solution.” 

“Which is living, on an untamed island, with some fucking dragons?” Ultear shook her head. “I understand that that’s the best thing for us now, but it sounds miserable. Mom wouldn’t have wanted that for us…” 

Gray stiffened, every muscle in his body going taut. 

“Gray, come here.” Gently, Lisanna guided him away from Lyon and Ultear, and into the kitchen. “You’re going to have to give them some time. This is… This is a lot.” 

“I know, but—” 

She shook her head. “Gray… they’re not human anymore. They need time to adjust, and come to terms with the fact that things will never go back to normal for them. Give them that time.” 

“We don’t  _ have _ that time!” he argued. “We need to get off this island as fast as we can!” 

“I know, I know.” Lisanna grabbed his shoulders, trying to keep him still. “Mira went to go get Lucy and Levy, and we’re going to work out the best course of action. But you need to be prepared for the fact that Lyon and Ultear are… are going to be different for a while, alright? They’ve been through a lot.” 

Gray took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Because he knew she was right. Gods, he couldn’t even imagine what his reaction would be if he was suddenly in a different body, and had to come to terms with the fact that he could never interact with human civilization ever again. True, he would always feel a little ostracized because of his magic, but he had the option to keep that hidden. 

Lyon and Ultear could no longer do that. 

“Now…” Lisanna guided him over to sit down at the kitchen table. “You’re going to need to explain to everyone what’s been going on with you and Erza and this apparent dragon.” 

* * *

Erza awoke to shouting. A lot of shouting, from a lot of different voices. Groaning, she rolled over, and shoved her head beneath Mirajane’s pillows, wanting to muffle it and go back to sleep. However long she’d managed to nap was nowhere near long enough. 

Unfortunately, given everything that was going on, she knew she probably needed to get up and at least  _ see _ what was going on. So she forced herself out of bed, and staggered into the living room. 

Ultear and Lyon were still huddled on the couch wrapped in their blankets, but at least they weren’t trying to cover their faces anymore. Elfman was holding Mirajane back, while Lisanna was glaring at her siblings and shaking her head. Levy and Lucy sat on the opposite end of the couch as Lyon and Ultear, and both of them were futilely telling Gray to calm down. 

“What the hell is going on?” Erza demanded. 

Everyone promptly shut up, except for Mirajane. “You and Gray were going to just up and leave Magnolia!?” she shrieked. 

Erza frowned. “No?” What the hell was Mirajane talking about. “I’ve never had any plans to leave Magnolia. I was going to help Natsu—” 

“Gray said you were going to go with the dragons!” she shouted. “And now Lyon and Ultear are going to go too! You’re all just  _ leaving! _ I-I-I know you probably need to, but I’ll  _ miss _ you!” 

Erza whipped around to look at Gray. “Gray, what the hell is she talking about?” 

He raised his chin, not cowering at all beneath her glare. “I was going to tell you to go with Natsu and Wendy. You’re miserable here, and it’s only a matter of time until those fucking bastards reveal your magic to the whole island. And now that Lyon and Ultear are back, I’ll go with you.” 

“Gray! You don’t get to make those decisions for me!” she shouted. 

“But you’d be  _ safe! _ And Natsu didn’t want to leave us!” he argued. “That way at least one of us would be with him, but now we can both go! Because— Because I’m going, Erza. No matter what. Lyon and Ultear  _ have _ to go, so do Natsu and Wendy, and I… I’m going with them.” 

“Gray…” Erza tapped her fingers on the knives on her belt. She couldn’t deny that what he said made  _ sense. _ She could just run, flee. And live with the dragons and whatever it was that Ultear and Lyon had become. But that meant leaving everything else she’d ever known behind. Magnolia, her childhood home. Not to mention Makarov, Jellal, all her other friends. “What about everyone else?” 

“Um…” Levy cleared her throat and raised her hand. “Erza, if I may… Considering that this has become more than just helping one dragon off the island… you’re up to five, at the least, people trying to run. You’ll need a ship. Provisions. Money. And-And well… if you’re already going through all the trouble…. Lucy and I want to go as well.” 

Gray’s eyes widened. “Shit, Levy, really?” 

Lucy crossed her arms and turned her nose up. “Look, there’s nothing on this island for us. And if everyone we care about decides they want to leave, like hell we’re just going to stay here.” 

“You lot better not just be trying to leave because of us,” Ultear grumbled. 

Levy shook her head. “No, that’s not it. There  _ has _ to be something better for us out there. There just has to be. A place where Ultear and Lyon, and those two dragons, can live in peace, and maybe we wouldn’t have to hide either. We have to at least  _ try.” _

“Well if you’re going, then we’re going!” Mirajane exclaimed, grabbing both Lisanna and Elfman and pulling them closer. 

“We are?” Lisanna squeaked. 

“Hell yeah, we are!” Elfman shouted. 

“Oh, oh, is everyone just leaving now?” Erza demanded. “Someone go get Cana and Jellal! Hell, we’ll hunt Laxus down while we’re at it, and he can come, too! We’ll all just go!” 

“Well why don’t we?” Gray asked. “What the hell is stopping us from doing that?” 

“This is our  _ home,” _ Erza argued. “We’ve been here forever!” 

“But it’s not a  _ good _ home, Erz!” Gray exclaimed. “We’re treated like shit by everyone else here! We have to hide, and suffer, and Levy’s right! There’s gotta be something better out there!” 

She shook her head. “Gray… say we all decide to go. How would we even do that? None of us can afford a ship, and we’d need our own for this.” 

Everyone in the room deflated, realizing that she was right. They were all just barely scraping by when it came to money. They couldn’t even afford passage off the island unless they saved for weeks, let alone purchasing their own ship. 

“No, we don’t,” Gray said. “But I know two dragons who have enough money to buy the entire goddamn island.” 

Erza opened her mouth to argue, another excuse building on her tongue, when Gray stepped forward and grabbed her hands. “Look, Erza, I get it. I really do. We grew up here. This is our  _ home. _ But I think we should take this chance. It’s not just about Natsu anymore. It’s the best for everyone, including you. Please… please, come with us.” 

She was going to tell him no again, that she just couldn’t, that it wasn’t that easy, until she realized she couldn’t think of  _ why. _ Why didn’t she want to leave? Why was she so against this? Because this island was nothing if everyone she cared about left it. 

“Okay, but if we’re going to do this, we need to make sure everyone is on the same page, and we need to get an actual plan together,” she said. 

Gray smiled, and for the first time in a long time, he looked genuinely  _ happy. _ “Go back to Natsu’s. Talk to him and Wendy about this. Hell, figure out some way to sneak them into the village if you can. Everyone needs to talk, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible with Lyon and Ultear.” 

Gray nodded, and was out the door so quickly he didn’t even manage to get his coat on all the way yet. 

“Mira, go find Cana. If we’re all going, we’re not leaving her. I doubt she’d want to stay anyways, but don’t take no for an answer,” she said. 

Mirajane nodded. “Right! Come on, Elf, help me find her.” 

“Sure thing, Mira,” he said. 

“Lucy, Levy, will you go talk to Makarov for me? He’ll probably take this scheme better coming from you two,” she requested. 

“Of course, Erza,” Lucy said. “We’ll take care of it.” 

“And you two!” Erza whipped around to look at Lyon and Ultear. “Uh… you just stay here with Lisanna.” 

“Yeah, it’s not like we had an option,” Lyon muttered, and Ultear lightly whacked his shoulder. 

“I’ll be back soon,” Erza said, looking around for her coat. “I’m going to go speak to Jellal about coming with us.” 


	14. Chapter 14

“Natsu, stop playing with the fire,” Wendy scolded. 

Natsu glanced down, and realized he had both his hands shoved into the fire, fiddling with the half-burned sticks and logs. “Oh…” 

“If you’re hungry, I can start another fire. Don’t eat the one we’re using to keep it warm in here,” she said. 

He sighed and pulled his hands out the fire. “No, it’s fine, I’m not hungry.” 

Wendy gave him a worried look, and came over to sit next to him. “He’s stupid.” 

“Huh?” 

She leaned against him, and reached up to pet his hair. “That human. He’s stupid.” 

Natsu glanced down at her, and he knew she was doing her best to try and make him feel better, but it did little help. Because Gray  _ was _ right. Deep down, Natsu had known that the entire time. They needed to get off this island. The second he had been discovered, it was no longer safe for him  _ or _ Wendy to be here. Even if those merchants eventually gave up looking for him, word would spread, and more hunters and trappers would come looking. People who  _ specialized _ in hunting dragons, and then he doubted their seclusion would be enough to save them. 

His own experience as merchandise had been horrible enough, and he’d had Erza with him. He’d rather  _ die _ than let Wendy go through that. 

Which unfortunately… meant leaving. Leaving their home, probably most of their belongings, and Gray… 

Because he wasn’t coming with them. And nothing Natsu said or did would change that. 

“He’s not stupid,” he said quietly. “He… He just…” 

_ “Natsu!”  _

His ear twitched, and he jerked up, dislodging Wendy with a small squeak. He scrambled to his feet and dashed outside, a giddy smile already on his face, because Gray  _ came back!  _ That had to mean something good, right? Maybe he’d changed his mind! Maybe—

“Natsu, get your ass down here, I need to talk to you!” Gray shouted. He was still working his way up the last bit of the mountain to reach the cave. “I know you can probably hear me, and I’m tired!” 

Natsu couldn’t help but laugh as he spread his wings and flew down to meet him. 

“Oh thank gods,” Gray gasped as soon as he saw him. “People without wings really weren’t meant to get to this fucking cave.” 

As happy and excited as Natsu was to see Gray, he forced himself to stand a few feet away. He would wait for Gray to speak, to initiate any kind of contact, if that was what he wanted. 

Gray quickly realized Natsu was waiting on him to speak, and he took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry.” 

_ Sorry? _ Natsu cocked his head, trying to figure out what the hell it was that Gray was sorry for. 

“I shouldn’t have just left like that this morning,” Gray continued. “Especially after I led you on last night. At the least, I should have actually talked things out with you rather than running away.” 

Disappointment unfurled in Natsu’s chest. So Gray had just come to offer more explanations? Natsu didn’t  _ care _ about the explanations. 

“I meant what I said. I wouldn’t be going anywhere without my siblings, no matter the circumstances. But things happened. My-My brother and sister got back last night.” 

The disappointment vanished in an instant, replaced by absolute relief. “You’re going to come with us!?” he exclaimed, smiling so brightly his cheeks hurt. 

“Yes, I am,” Gray said, returning the dragon’s smile. 

Natsu couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He threw himself at Gray, wrapping his arms around him, his wings curling around them, and he rubbed his cheek against Gray’s face. 

“Woah!” Gray stumbled back a step, but Natsu kept him upright. 

“Does that mean you can kiss me again?” He’d liked that, and supposed he could understand why humans did that rather than licking each other. 

Gray laughed. “You know, you can kiss me, too, right?” 

Natsu’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Immediately, he leaned in for a kiss, but Gray leaned back and held his hand up. 

“Not right this minute, we’ve got things to talk about,” he said, before worming his way out of the dragon’s grasp. 

Natsu pouted, and reluctantly let him go. “About what?” 

“Leaving.” 

* * *

“No.” 

It actually took Erza a moment to fully process the word. She stared at Jellal without actually seeing him, blinked a few times, before the simple word actually  _ registered.  _ “What do you  _ mean, _ no!?” she demanded, lurching forward to grab Jellal’s shoulders and shake him. 

“Exactly what it sounds like, Erza,” he said. “I won’t be going with you.” 

“But why!?” She didn’t understand! “What reason could you possibly have for staying here? You have  _ nothing!”  _ The only people Jellal even  _ pretended _ to have a decent relationship with were Erza herself, and Ultear, on occasion. “Surely you don’t actually enjoy working for those bastards, even if they don’t know about your magic!” 

Jellal let out a shaky breath, and backed out of her hold. “I started working for them for a reason, Erza. There’s a reason I let you take the fall and have your magic exposed rather than me. I can’t give up what I’m working for now, not even to run away with you.” 

“What?” She shook her head. “What the hell are you talking about?” 

Jellal tilted his head away, letting his hair fall into his eyes. “Cobra.” 

Erza’s brows scrunched together in confusion. “Huh?” 

“Salamander isn’t the only dragon hybrid I’ve ever seen end up in a place like that.” He glanced towards her, only for a second, but she could see the regret and guilt in his eyes. “His name was Cobra. Or at least, that was what they called him, I never got to learn his real name. It was several years ago, but I never… Unlike you, I wasn’t brave enough to try and get him out of there, even though—” The breath caught in his throat. “I thought maybe if I could get in good with some people like the ones we work for, I might be able to find him again one day, and do right by him this time. And if I go with you, I can’t do that.” 

“Jellal…” Was that why he’d always acted so strange around Natsu? So distant and aloof? Had he just been hiding from something he’d already seen once before?

“I’m glad you got Salamander out, and I’m sorry I didn’t do more to help, because I should have. The dragon that was right there was more important than the one I may never find again,” he said. “And I’m glad you’re getting him somewhere safe, that  _ you’re _ getting somewhere safe, but I can’t go with you. Not until I find Cobra again.” 

“Jellal, please,” she begged. She didn’t want to leave anyone behind, not even Jellal. Sure, they had a strange relationship, and had never necessarily been  _ good _ to one another, but she still couldn’t just let him go. “Please come with us. We could help you look, we could—” 

He shook his head. “No, Erza. There are a lot of things I’ve done wrong in my life, including what I’ve done to you. So go without me. You don’t need me there. Hell, I’d be willing to be most of them wouldn’t even  _ want _ me there. So leave me to find Cobra, and… and maybe one day we can meet somewhere again. But I’ll wish you luck, and whenever it is that you try to leave, let me know. I’ll do what I can to distract, as I’m sure you’ll need it, given the dragons you’re going to be sneaking to the docks.”

Erza wanted to argue with him, she really did. But she could see it in his eyes. Nothing she said to him would change his mind. “Okay. Goodbye, Jellal.” 

* * *

Natsu had refused to bring Wendy to the village until the time of the actual escape. Not that Gray could blame him. So he’d explained as quickly as he could to the little girl what was going on, and that they’d come back and tell her everything about the escape after they got all the details worked out. 

Gray didn’t risk sneaking Natsu to Mirajane’s until it was dark. He’d wrapped him in as many layers as he could manage, but it still did little to hide his wings. Sure, they covered them, but there was little that could be done about their shape. The same could be said for his horns. 

But… he’d managed it. Thanks to the Strausses being on the edge of town, and the darkness, he was able to get the dragon inside without anyone noticing. 

At first, Gray had been worried about introducing Natsu to so many people all at once. He wasn’t used to it, he’d been alone with just Wendy for so long. And yeah, sure, he liked Gray and Erza, but it wouldn’t surprise Gray at all if he was wary and distrustful of humans after what had happened to him. 

However, it seemed he didn’t have to worry at all. As it turned out, Natsu was  _ extremely _ social. The second they got inside, he’d shaken off the cloak and coat Gray had wrapped him in, and immediately began to introduce himself to everyone else. Although… his strange socialization skills did carry over, and he tried getting way too close to sniff at people. Mirajane had squeaked when he’d done it, and so had Lisanna, but they hadn’t reacted more than that. But then he tried it with Lucy, and she’d ended up getting a little freaked out, so Gray grabbed him and quietly told him most people weren’t going to appreciate someone they didn’t know well getting so close. 

Natsu had pouted, but obeyed, and didn’t try it with anyone else. 

Until he saw Lyon and Ultear. His eyes lit up, and he practically pounced on them. 

“Natsu!” Gray shouted. He tried to grab him by the scarf, but missed, and left the dragon to throw himself into Ultear and Lyon’s laps. 

“Holy gods!” Lyon yelped as he pushed himself as far back against the couch as he could get, not that that deterred Natsu.

“Gray, get your dragon off of us!” Ultear shouted. 

Natsu completely ignored their squirming and protests, and leaned in to sniff at their faces, curiosity shining in his eyes. “My dad was right!” he said. 

“Natsu, get  _ off _ them,” Gray said, and he wrapped his arms around the dragon’s midsection and tugged him away. “Gods, I just told you you can’t do that. And what the hell do you mean, your dad was right?” 

Natsu wormed his way out of Gray’s hold, still never taking his eyes off Ultear and Lyon, who were looking increasingly uncomfortable. “Him and my mom thought it was weird that humans could do magic now,” he said. “I guess they didn’t used to be able to, a long time ago. So they thought that the humans who could do magic weren’t  _ actually _ human, that they were descendants of other magical creatures or something.” He excitedly bounced from foot to foot. “And you—” He pointed to Ultear. “Look like an elf! And you—” He turned to Lyon. “Look like an ice fae! Neither of you smell human either.” He gasped and twisted around to smile at Gray. “Does that mean you’re an elf or fae?” 

Gray blinked, trying to work through and process everything Natsu had just said. “Hang on, hang on, I need you to slow down.” 

“What the hell is he talking about?” Lyon rasped. “That’s not— That can’t be true. Is he saying we’ve  _ always _ been like this? That can’t be true! They  _ did _ something to us!” 

Natsu’s ears pricked up. “My parents always thought humans shouldn’t be able to do magic. Pure-blood humans, anyways. And they prove that, don’t they?” He nodded towards Lyon and Ultear. “That means you and Erza aren’t completely human either!” 

Gray stepped away from Natsu, and fell onto the couch next to Lyon and Ultear. “Oh my gods….” There was no way, right? There was  _ no way _ that could be true! 

“W-Well…” Levy began. “That  _ is _ a theory about magic users, that we’re not actually human.” She shook her head. “I never gave it any credit, because I thought it was just another way for them to hate us, but… but if actual dragons think it’s true… That and, I honestly couldn’t think of a single way this could have been done to Ultear and Lyon if there wasn’t already  _ something _ there.” 

“Hold on, are you really trying to tell us  _ none _ of us are human?” Cana demanded. “That we’re all the bastard descendants of elves and dragons and shit? That  _ that—” _ She gestured to Lyon and Ultear. “Could happen to  _ any _ of us!?” 

“Cana,” Mirajane scolded. 

“I need to lay down…” Lucy muttered as she slid further into her seat

Natsu glanced around the room, as clueless as ever, having no idea the confusion and concern his words had caused. “Gray, what’s wrong?” he asked. 

Gray just shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he  _ might _ not be human. If he wasn’t human, what the hell was he? He wasn’t actually blood-related to Lyon and Ultear, so even if they were part elf and fae, well… that didn’t really tell Gray anything about himself, now did it? 

“Does it matter?” Lisanna asked softly. 

“What do you mean?” Ultear demanded. “Of course it matters! We’re— We’re—” 

“Still magic users, who are going to be hated either way, human or not,” she said. “And no matter what, our plans are still going to be the same. We’re still going to run. I don’t think it matters.” 

“She’s right,” Mirajane said. “It’s not like it means anything.” 

“It does if it means we might suddenly transform,” Lucy said. “You know, like Laxus did. Or like  _ they _ did.” 

Ultear and Lyon’s frowns deepened. 

“What’s wrong with that?” Natsu asked. His wings started to droop as his excitement faded. “What’s wrong with not looking human?” 

“Nothing,” Gray hurried to assure him. “It’s not that, it’s just… well when you’ve thought you’re one thing your whole life, to suddenly find out that might not be the case… it’s a lot.” 

“Oh. Sorry…” Natsu sat down on the floor and leaned against Gray’s legs. “Didn’t mean to upset everyone…” 

“I know.” Gray gently stroked his hair. “It’s alright, you didn’t mean to.” 

He noticed a few people give him strange looks, and Ultear narrowed her eyes at him. Gray realized rather abruptly that he had never explained his relationship with Natsu to a single person there. It wasn’t like it  _ mattered, _ and it wasn’t exactly important at the moment, but… if Natsu decided to kiss him or lick him or anything like that in front of everyone, Gray really wasn’t looking forward to the fallout from that. And certainly not before he and Natsu had a conversation with Erza first. 

Speaking of Erza… where the hell was she? According to everyone else, she’d gone to speak to Jellal, but that had been  _ hours _ ago. She really should have been back by now. 

Gray did his best not to worry. Most likely, she’d just gone back to her and Makarov’s place to get a little more sleep. But it wasn’t like her to do that without telling anyone, especially considering everything going on. 

But he was sure she was fine. 

* * *

“Now what the hell is this about leaving, Scarlet?” 

Chills raced down Erza’s spine as she froze in her tracks. 

A cold hand grabbed her shoulder and jerked her around. “It  _ was _ you who let that fucking dragon go, and now you’re going to try and fucking run with it.” He shook her head. “I  _ knew _ it was you. The second you decided to let Fernandes live that night, you gave yourself away.” 

Immediately, Erza’s free hand went to her knives. She’d killed before, she could do it again. 

Before she realized she was in the middle of the street, just outside Jellal’s house. There were people  _ everywhere. _ Even if she killed this man without using her magic, she’d still be damning herself. She’d get rushed by a mob and thrown in prisons in  _ seconds _ if she stabbed someone to death right here. 

So she forced herself to relax. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

The merchant laughed. “You’re really going to try that on me, you little fucking bitch? I heard every word of your scheme. We thought Fernandes might have been involved in that disaster with that fucking dragon, and he’s easier to keep an eye on than you. Though I guess he technically _was_ _,_ involved, and he's got magic, too!" He shook his head. "I just can’t believe you managed to actually get away with it.” 

As she realized playing dumb wasn’t an option, her hand shifted back to her knives. “So what are you going to do? It’s just you out here, and you know what I can do.” 

“If you kill me, or even try to  _ attack _ me, out in the open like this, you’re fucked and you know it, Scarlet,” he hissed, his grip on her tightening. “Now you’re coming with me.” 

* * *

Natsu had decided pretty quickly that he liked Gray and Erza’s friends. Other than Gray and Erza, he had no basis for judging humans (other than those fucking bastards that captured him, but he decided not to count them), so he had no idea how normal or kind they were compared to others, but if all humans were like them, maybe they really weren’t so bad! 

Or well…  _ mostly _ humans. Natsu was still convinced that Igneel and Grandine had been right when they theorized that magic users were descended from other creatures. Gray’s brother and sister had proven that for him. 

The only thing he really disliked was that he’d had to give them some of his gold and jewels. Yeah, he  _ understood _ why they needed it, if they were ever going to get out of here. Or at least he kind of did. Levy did her best to explain the concept of money and something called the economy to him, but he hadn’t really comprehended most of it. He’d still given her the bag full of gold and gems, though, which he hoped was enough to get them a ship. Though if the way Levy and Lucy’s eyes had widened when they saw it, it would be plenty. 

“Where’s Erza?” he asked as he climbed onto the couch next to Gray. “I thought she was supposed to be here.” He wanted to ask her to court him, but obviously he couldn’t do that if she wasn’t here. That, and he just missed her. Sure, he’d gotten to see her yesterday, but that felt like  _ so long _ ago. 

“I don’t know,” Gray said, and Natsu could sense his anxiety getting worse. “No one’s heard from her in a while.” 

Natsu whined in concern, and laid down in Gray’s lap. 

Ultear and Lyon exchanged a look, before Ultear leaned down to get a closer look at Natsu. “What exactly is the nature of your relationship with my brother?” she asked coolly. 

Blush spread across Gray’s cheeks. “Ultear—” 

“I love him,” Natsu said simply. 

Gray made a concerning choking noise, and Natsu immediately sat up, making sure that he was okay. 

_ “What?” _ Lyon demanded. “Gray!” 

“I knew it!” Ultear exclaimed. “The second you walked in here with him, I  _ knew it!”  _

“It— I—” Gray stammered, and by now the blush had spread all the way across his face. 

“You’ve been sleeping with a dragon!?” Lyon shouted, and by now, everyone in the house was paying attention to them. 

“No!” Gray wildly shook his head. “No, no, I didn’t—!” 

Natsu frowned, confused. “But we did sleep together?” They had just last night! 

Lyon and Ultear’s jaws dropped, and Gray shoved his hand over Natsu’s mouth. “That’s not what he  _ means, _ Natsu!” 

“Then what does he mean?” he tried to ask, though his question was muffled by Gray’s hand. 

Gray looked nearly physically  _ pained _ now. “It— Nothing, he’s just being  _ stupid,”  _ he said with a glare towards his brother. 

“I thought you were with Erza!” Mirajane said. “Oh, you  _ better _ not be cheating on her! Even if it is with a dragon! I’ll skin you alive, Gray!” 

“Look, would you just let me  _ explain?” _ Gray pleaded. “And  _ you!” _ He turned his glare to Natsu, and finally removed his hand from his mouth. “Stop answering their questions!” 

Truly, Natsu had no idea what was going on, or what he’d said or done to incite reactions like this from everyone. Maybe he  _ didn’t  _ like humans as much as he thought he would. They seemed to get worked up over the smallest things, and said so many things that didn’t make sense. 

“I’m not cheating on Erza!” Gray continued. “Erza and I aren’t together! We—” 

The front door was thrown open, and everyone whipped around to see Jellal scramble inside. Gray let out a breath of relief, seemingly glad that the focus was off of him. 

“Jellal?” Lisanna asked. “What are you doing here? Where’s Erza? I thought she was with you.” 

Jellal shook his head, and Natsu could sense the panic coming off him in  _ waves. _ He’d never seen the man so emotional, or so nervous. 

“She…” He panted for breath. “They’ve got her in town, those fucking bastards. They overheard her talking to me, and they know she’s the one who broke the dragon out, and that you’re trying to leave. They’re going to tell everyone she has magic, and— and—” 

Before he even realized what he was doing, Natsu had jumped to his feet, and was sprinting out the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay everyone, little announcement. I decided I want to do a second part to this fic! So yeah, it's going to become a series. Obviously there will be one more chapter for this part of it, but yes, there will be more! 
> 
> I'm hoping to get the final chapter of this posted within the next couple days. After that, I can't say for sure when the second part will be up. Maybe after I finish my Erzajane fic, since I'll need to finish outlining it, and because I don't like to have too many ongoing fics at once. But I do write /a lot/ of FT stuff, so while you wait, you can always check out my other stuff. 
> 
> Anyways, I'm rambling now, I just wanted to let you guys know that there will be more coming eventually :D


	15. Chapter 15

_ Gray had never felt a fire so hot. But… he’d also never seen a fire so big. Did bigger fires always burn hotter? He had no idea, but if that were true… he doubted he would ever feel a hotter fire than this one.  _

_ Their home wasn’t big by any means, but it hadn’t been small either. So for it to go up in flames….  _

_ Gray didn’t know where to go. He wanted to run back inside, where it was  _ safe. _ But it  _ wasn’t _ safe in his home anymore, because it had been consumed by flames. But the ones who had started the fire were outside, blocking off any escape route he might find, and… and…  _

_ “Please! Please, it wasn’t my wife! You didn’t see her use magic! Just let her go!”  _

_ Gray fell to the ground and pressed his forehead against his knees. The frenzied crowd writhed around him, stepping on him, kicking him. Had they simply forgotten about him? Had they not cared enough to grab him as he fled his burning home with his parents, because he was too small to be bothered with? Or was it because he was still a kid? If so, it made him angry. How  _ dare _ these people still act like they had any kind of  _ morals! __

_ He couldn’t see his parents anymore. They’d been overtaken by the mob, but he could hear his father’s begging, his mother’s screaming. Gray didn’t know what they were doing to her, but from what he could hear… it wasn’t good.  _

_ Burning? Stoning? Lynching? He’d seen the remains of all three before, and countless other techniques.  _

_ Tears dripped down his face, freezing on his cheeks, and he gasped, furiously trying to rub them away in case any noticed.  _

_ But no one cared about him. All they cared about was taking his parents away, all because they caught his father doing a little magic.  _

_ Gray hated them.  _

* * *

Natsu had just barely made it out the door when Gray tackled him from behind. “Natsu! What the hell are you doing!? You can’t just  _ go out there!”  _

“I’m going to get Erza!” he shouted, trying to shove Gray off. Gray and Erza had both said bad things would happen if their magic got exposed, that they might  _ die. _ He wasn’t going to let that happen! He  _ wasn’t! _ Erza had risked  _ everything _ for him! How could Natsu not do the same for her? 

“You don’t even know where she is!” Gray argued, already dragging him back inside. “And— And I can’t let anything happen to you! If you go out there, they’re gonna—” 

“I can protect myself!” Natsu insisted. “I can protect Erza, too!” This wasn’t like the last time he’d been faced with humans. When he’d been weak, and starving, and freezing, and didn’t have a spark of magic left. He was a  _ dragon. _ A regular  _ human _ didn’t stand a chance against him when he was at his best! 

_ “You _ will stay here!” Gray insisted. “Jellal, you’re coming with me.” 

“Like hell!” Natsu roared, and he finally managed to shake Gray off. “Those bastards are gonna hurt her, and I’m not  _ letting that happen!”  _ Flames began to flicker over his body, and everyone who was even a little bit close scrambled back. 

“If you’re going to run, you need to do it  _ now,” _ Jellal said, and he moved in front of the door to glare at Natsu. “I’m not letting you waste the chance she gave you. So you all need to get the hell out of here! After this, chances are, it’s not just Erza that will be exposed. There’ll be a goddamned witch hunt, because they  _ know _ there’s more of us now. They’re not going to let anyone set  _ foot _ off this island.” 

“He’s right…” Levy whispered, and Natsu whipped around to stare at her. “Oh gods, he’s right! If we don’t go now, we’ll never be able to! And they’re already suspicious of some of us already. They’ll start coming after us. We’ll probably be dead within a few months, if we even last that long.” 

“Why don’t you  _ fight them?” _ Natsu demanded. They had fucking magic, didn’t they? Couldn’t they just fight the humans that tried to hurt them? “They’re humans! They can’t actually do anything!” 

“It’s not that easy…” Gray muttered darkly. “It’s not like our magic is that  _ powerful. _ How could it be? None of us actually got to cultivate it. And when they form mobs and crowds… there’s nothing you can do. Sure… maybe we could take down a few before we were overwhelmed, but…” He grit his teeth. “But he’s right. We can’t just roll over and  _ take _ this! We can’t let them have Erza!” 

“Gray, what could we actually  _ do _ though?” Lucy whispered. 

Gray ignored her, and gave Natsu his full attention. “You want to save her?” 

“Of course I do!” Natsu shouted. 

“And you really think you can fight to get to her?” 

“I  _ know _ I can,” he snarled, already imagining sinking his claws into the bastards that had hurt him. That had hurt  _ Erza. _

Gray let out a shaky breath. “Alright. Jellal, how long ago did this start?” 

“I got over here as soon as I realized,” he said. 

“Right…” Gray’s frown deepened. “Levy, Lucy, get down to the docks, get us a ship. Do whatever it takes, and do it quick, before word spreads too fast. You’re not gonna have much time, because it’s already bad enough, but when me and Natsu get there…” 

“Right!” Levy grabbed her girlfriend’s hand, and they both shoved Jellal out of the way, running towards the docks as quickly as they possibly could. 

“We can’t leave without Wendy either,” Gray continued. “But…” 

Natsu tried not to growl, but he realized either he or Gray would have to be the ones to go get her. No one else knew where she was at, but that meant one of them wouldn’t be able to go help Erza. 

Gray’s eyes lit up. “Lisanna, Mira, Elfman, your transformation magic… when you change, do your senses heighten?” 

“Yeah, of course they do,” Lisanna said. 

“Track my scent out to the woods. I’ve been to where Wendy is and back three times now, it should be plenty strong,” he said. “Get her, and as much of their hoard as you possibly can, and then get to the docks.” 

A small part of Natsu nearly protested, his instincts warning him not to let strangers find his home, find his hoard, find his  _ sister, _ but he forced them away. This was the best thing they could do right now, considering the circumstances. 

“But will this other dragon actually trust us?” Mirajane asked. “She’s never even seen us before.” 

“Tell her I said it was okay, that I trust you,” Natsu said. “And make sure she knows you have magic. She’ll go with you.” Wendy wasn’t nearly as untrusting as Natsu was, and right now, he was thankful for it. 

“Right, we’ll be back in a flash,” Mirajane said. “Lisanna, Elf, let’s go.” 

“Cana, go get Makarov,” Gray said. “He’ll have a heart attack once he realizes what’s going on, but… we’ll just have to deal with that later.” 

“Oh great, leave dealing with him to me,” Cana grumbled, but she didn’t actually argue, and was out the door just as quickly as the Struass siblings. 

“Alright…” Gray took a deep breath, and looked around the house at who was left. “Jellal, I was going to tell you to come with me, but…” He glanced over his shoulder at his siblings. “Stay with them. Give us… give us a half hour, and then get them down to the docks. I don’t care how, just do it. And if you do  _ anything—” _ he started. 

“I’ll protect them with my life, Gray,” Jellal interrupted. “I assure you.” 

“We don’t need to be protected…” Lyon grumbled. 

Gray gave him a half-hearted glare, but didn’t argue. 

“Now come on.” Gray grabbed Natsu’s hand. “We’re going to get Erza.” 

* * *

Erza had imagined what would happen if her magic got exposed over a hundred times. How could she not, considering her life? How it was being held over her head? But despite how vivid her imagination could be at times, every horrible scenario it had concocted, there was one thing she’d never gotten right. 

The regret. 

She’d imagined that she would be scared. Angry. Hurt. But she never thought she would feel  _ so much _ regret. 

Regret for everything she’d never done, and everyone she was going to leave behind. 

Because she was going to die here. 

She was going to die here, without ever getting to thank Makarov. Without apologizing to Mirajane for breaking up with her without a real explanation. Without getting Natsu somewhere that he could be happy. Without seeing Gray again… 

Gray… 

Gray, who had already lost his parents to this magic-hating world. And then his adoptive mother as well. Now he was going to lose her. 

As overbearing as he could be at times, regarding keeping those he cared about safe, Erza had never been able to fault him, considering how many people he’d lost. 

Now she was just going to be another name added to that list. 

“I’m sorry…” she murmured. “I’m so sorry.” She wished she could tell him that, hug him one more time, make him promise not to do anything too stupid without her. 

“You all know about the dragon that was stolen from us!” 

Erza winced, and knew it would be any second now. Her employers had dragged her out to the main square, deciding that she was no longer worth the trouble anymore. And if they didn’t want her, well then she was just another magic user. 

Oh, magic may not  _ technically _ be outlawed (though it was only a matter of time), but the masses still hated it. And no one was ever arrested for the murder of a magic-user. Especially not when a mob was involved. 

And the town square was packed, with Erza right in the middle of it. 

“We finally found the bitch responsible!” 

One of them grabbed Erza’s hair and thrust her forward, she didn’t care for who it was. She just wanted them to get on with it. Shout out that she had magic, and then throw her into the crowd to be torn apart, like a lamb fed to ravenous wolves. 

“Erza Scarlet! We’ve all known she was strange, just like the company she keeps!” Her hair was viciously tugged on again. “And she’s finally revealed herself for what she is! A traitorous magic user, with more loyalty to a fucking animal than her own kind! She killed two of us to flee with it!” 

Her knives were still on her belt, they’d been too stupid, too cocky, to take them, and Erza began to consider shoving them into the bastards. She was fucked either way, wasn’t she? Why not take them down with her? 

The crowd was already frenzied, shouting and screaming and calling for her head. She heard snippets of conversation, claiming they’d always known she was strange, that she’d been suspicious, and that everyone she spent time with was probably just like her. 

She squeezed her eyes shut, and hoped everyone else managed to get away before this happened to them. 

“And on top of that, her magic is  _ barbaric!” _ they continued. “Control over  _ weapons! _ She’s a monster, born and bred for murder!” 

Erza growled and bared her teeth, the hypocrisy of it all getting to her. 

“And do you want proof?” 

_ Proof? _ Erza’s eyes snapped open, and saw one of the merchants pulling their arm back, a knife dangling from their fingers. 

She gasped, and struggled against the one pinning her arms behind her back. 

That knife was going to get thrown at her. Right towards her face. Leaving her only option to stop it with her magic, and prove everything they were claiming, or let it kill her. Except well… she didn’t really even have a choice. Even  _ if _ she decided she wanted to let the knife hit her, her magic would kick in on instinct to keep her safe. 

The knife was flung towards her, and Erza gasped. 

* * *

Most people had screamed and scrambled out of their way on the way to the town square, thanks to Natsu. Even if anyone  _ did _ attempt to do anything to him, a snarl and burst of flame from the dragon was enough to deter them. 

Humans really were cowards when they weren’t in large groups. 

Gray could hear the shouting and screaming before they got to the square, and much to his chagrin, when they  _ did _ get there, it was  _ packed. _ He couldn’t catch a glimpse of Erza from the edge of the crowd. Even with Natsu, it would be damn near impossible to shove their way through. But before Gray could even  _ think _ about an actual plan, Natsu grabbed him, and sprang into the air. 

Gray would deny the shrieking noise he made and the way he clung onto the dragon, but he hadn’t expected his feet to suddenly not be on the ground. “What the hell are you doing!?” 

Natsu didn’t answer, and settled back down on the roof of a nearby building. “I couldn’t smell her anymore, too many scents, and—” He snapped his mouth shut, his teeth clicking together, and a deep snarl rumbled from his chest. 

Gray followed the dragon’s gaze, and from their elevated position, was finally able to see Erza. 

He lost his breath at the sight, a rage he’d only felt a rare few times flooding through him. 

They stood right in the center of the increasingly agitated crowd, on some boxes made into a makeshift stage. One had Erza’s arms pinned behind her back, and another had a handful of her hair. A few steps away, another pulled their arm back, and something glinted between their fingers—

Gray didn’t even think. He threw his hand out, magic dancing on his fingertips. 

The knife was released, but rather than hitting Erza, it sank into a sheet of ice. 

The crowd went feral, and Gray cursed as he realized what he’d just done. Used his magic, in front of hundreds of people. 

Except it wasn’t him that was going to be blamed for it. 

It was Erza. 

_ Not again.  _

They shoved Erza off the boxes and into the crowd, and she was  _ swarmed. _ She disappeared amongst the angry, writhing bodies, and the only evidence left of her were her knives shooting towards the merchants. 

“Natsu!” Gray gasped. 

The dragon was already moving, his wings flaring, claws flexing, and smoke leaking from between his bared fangs, and he threw himself towards Erza. 

The screaming grew louder as Natsu was spotted, and as soon as he landed in the crowd, people started to flee. 

Part of Gray knew that was a good thing, but more people on the street would make it more difficult for everyone else to get down to the docks. Especially Lyon and Ultear. And with tensions already so high… if they were spotted by  _ anyone, _ it could prove fatal. 

His breath came out in frantic gasps. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t let this happen again. He couldn’t! He  _ wouldn’t! _

Natsu’s fire blazed through the town, eating up anything in its path. It was terrifying, Gray could admit. Truly, he’d had no idea what the dragon was actually capable of. But he couldn’t focus on that. 

There were still too many people, and the second the panic wore off, they’d realize there were  _ infinitely _ more of them, than there were of Natsu and Erza. The second someone picked up a stone or bit of debris… 

“No…” He forced himself to stand up straight, and held his hands out. 

He’d never really been trained with his magic. Ur had done her best to teach him the basics, but it was more about how to keep himself from accidentally using it, rather than cultivate it. And even as he got older, he’d taught himself how to steal with his magic. Not fight. He hadn’t the slightest idea how to  _ actually _ use his magic in a combative situation. That merchant he’d killed with it had been done in the heat of the moment, a snap decision, a concentrated blast of power right to the chest. 

Gray couldn’t do that to every person here. He’d wear himself down and he’d be completely useless within a few moments. 

So there was little he could do to aid Natsu with the offense. 

But he could make shields. He could protect them. While Natsu kept Erza close, and fought their way out of the crowd, Gray could shield them. 

No one would get through his ice. 

* * *

Erza’s knives had only managed to kill one of the merchants, and Natsu couldn’t help his smile as he realized it was  _ his _ knife that had managed the killing hit. But that also meant  _ he _ got to destroy those awful humans. 

But first, he needed Erza. 

The crowd scrambled back as he landed, leaving enough space for him to drop down right on top of her. “Erza?” he asked as he helped her up and nosed at her cheek. “Erza, are you alright?” 

“Wha—” She blinked, shock flashing over her features, but it was quickly overtaken by irritation. “Natsu, you fucking moron!” she shouted. “Get the hell out of here!” 

“I’m not going anywhere without you!” he argued, though he did fight not to cower beneath her glare. But at least he knew she was alright enough to scold him, so she would probably be fine. 

And because she was fine, that meant he could give his full attention to the humans. 

He did not reign his fire in. He let it spread, further and further through the town. Why  _ should _ he reign it in? Keep all these people safe from it? They’d hurt him, they’d hurt Gray, they’d hurt Erza, and countless others. All because they were a little different. All because of  _ magic. _

Well… if they wanted to hate magic and its users so much, then Natsu would give them a fucking reason to. 

The first merchant who tried to get close ended up with his claws in her chest, digging so deeply Natsu could feel the bone. He ripped them out, and left her to collapse, choking and gasping. 

Igneel and Grandine had said that not all humans were bad. Most of them were scared and confused, but Natsu didn’t think he cared. Oh, he didn’t think they were all bad. But anyone  _ here? _ Participating in  _ this? _ They deserved every bit of pain he gave them. 

Some began to flee, screaming about magic and dragons and how they were all going to die. 

They were the smart ones. 

Natsu didn’t bother keeping track of the amount of people he tore into, that he let his flames devour. He didn’t need to. It didn’t matter. All that  _ mattered _ was getting Erza to safety. 

Natsu had only truly fought a rare few times, but Igneel and Grandine had done what they could to teach him how, and sparring with Gajeel and Wendy later on had improved those skills. That was more than enough for people like this. 

Normally, he relied on his wings to shield him when he fought, but he dimly realized he didn’t feel anything hitting them. He knew there were people trying to come at them from all sides, he could see them throw rocks and rubble and knives at them, but he didn’t feel anything at all. 

And then he noticed the ice. The ice that was somehow able to withstand his flames, and that shielded both him and Erza from any attack that was thrown at them. 

“Gray!” he and Erza exclaimed together. 

But Natsu didn’t have time to dwell on that, not now. 

Not when he still needed to keep Erza safe. 

* * *

Erza did not like letting people fight her battles for her. She was the one who had made all these mistakes in her life, and so it was up to her to get herself out of all the holes she dug. 

But despite her fingers twitching for her knives, she could do nothing but stare. 

Stare as more and more of Gray’s ice appeared, shielding her. Stare as Natsu tore through her enemies, a blade cutting down her foes. 

Why would they do this for her? Why would they  _ risk _ themselves like this for her? 

Sure, she would have done the same for them, but… 

“Natsu, we need to run!” she shouted as she grabbed onto him. “They’re panicked right now, so now’s the best time. If we wait too long, they’ll regroup, more will hear and more will come! We need to  _ go!” _

Natsu’s chest heaved with exertion, and blood coated his hands and face, dripped from his fangs. 

Erza couldn’t believe this was the same terrified, wounded dragon in that cage. If anyone had attempted to capture him when he hadn’t been severely weakened… 

“Let’s get Gray, and run,” she said. “Go back to your cave, we’ll have to hide there—” 

“We’re leaving the island now,” he said as he took her hand, and Erza couldn’t tell if he was so warm due to the fire, or the blood coating his skin. “Gray!” he shouted. “Erza says it’s time to go!” 

_ Time to go… _

Erza let Natsu drag her away. 

* * *

Gray didn’t think he’d ever felt more relieved to his life when they made it to the docks. They’d gotten through the town with a fair amount of ease… all things considered. Probably due to the mass hysteria thanks to a dragon slaughtering gods knew how many people in the center of town and two magic users going rogue. 

But he was wrong. He  _ could _ feel more relieved, because Levy was waving at him from a ship, and everyone else had managed to make it there. 

The second Gray made it onto the ship, he collapsed down on the deck, trying to get his breath back. 

“You exposed your magic,” Ultear said as she stepped over him. 

Gray groaned and closed his eyes. “I mean… they might not have realized it was me.” He hadn’t been right in the middle of it like Natsu and Erza. He’d been on that rooftop, but… at least a couple people had probably realized the ice was coming from him. “But yeah, probably…” 

“You did what Mom did for you when you got caught.” 

Gray’s breath hitched. “I…” No, he hadn’t. Ur had sacrificed her life for him, taken the fall when Gray had been stupid, had gotten too caught up in hating people and let a desire for vengeance take him over. That hadn’t been what this was. “It wasn’t the same.” 

Ultear sat down next to him, and kept silent for a moment, giving Gray the opportunity to hear Makarov fussing over Erza, to hear Natsu and Wendy checking on each other. Dimly, he wondered how Wendy and Strausses had managed to get here so fast, before he remembered they all had wings (well, the Strausses did on occasion), and could get around a lot faster than the rest of them. 

“I think Mom would be proud of you,” Ultear said softly. 

Despite it all, Gray managed a small smile. 

* * *

“Jellal… your magic will be exposed any day now. You  _ need _ to come with us,” Erza stressed. 

“No, I’m still not going to do that,” he said as he stepped off the ship and onto the dock. “You’ve got your life, and I’ve got mine. Like I said, maybe we’ll meet again someday, but we’re not meant to be together right now.” 

“But those merchants know—” 

“Oh they’re all dead,” Natsu said nonchalantly. 

Everyone who heard the comment stared at him, and the dragon froze, his tongue halfway out of his mouth as he licked at the blood on his hand. “What?” he asked. 

Erza sighed and shook her head, turning her attention back to Jellal. They could worry about teaching Natsu some things about life later. “You’re really sure?” she asked once more. 

“I’m really sure.” He smiled. “Good luck, Erza.” He turned, and didn’t offer her so much as a wave. 

* * *

They’d been too worried about getting the ship out of the harbor to really celebrate making it off of Magnolia alive, but now that the island was just a smudge on the horizon, the tension vanished. 

Cana had forgone bringing any actual necessities for herself, opting to bring as much vodka as she could manage, and nearly everyone was occupied with that. 

Erza found herself at the prow of the ship, watching as the stars slowly began to appear in the darkening sky. They were really leaving Magnolia, all of them, and were relying on Levy’s legends and navigations to get them somewhere. 

Honestly, it didn’t feel real. 

“You not gonna celebrate?” Gray asked as he came up behind her. “Not a single drink?” 

Erza chuckled. “Oh, maybe later.” Right now, she just wanted to think about what they’d actually done. “So I heard you and Natsu got together? I assume that happened last night?” She’d been… surprised, when Mirajane told her about that. Some… strange emotion had sparked in her chest as she’d heard the words. But she decided not to dwell on it, telling herself that she would be happy for the both of them. They deserved it. 

“Gods, was it really just last night?” Gray shook his head and rested his elbows on the railing next to her. “But yeah.” 

“That’s….” She tried to smile, but for some reason, it felt forced. “That’s great, Gray. I’m really happy for you two.” 

Gray took a deep breath, and shot her a wary glance. “You know… I don’t really know when I fell in love with you, Erz. I don’t know if it was when we were kids, I don’t know if it was when you started dating Mira and I realized I didn’t like that, or if I’d just always known…” 

“What—?” 

Gray ignored her and continued on, not caring at all for her confusion. “I told myself I would never tell you, that I would never tell anyone, because I didn’t want to lose you as a friend, or put you in that position. But after everything that happened the past couple weeks, and gods know what might be coming at us next, I decided that I wanted you to at least know.” 

“But— But if you and Natsu—” she stammered. 

“I can love you both, can’t I?” he asked with a sigh. “I’m not expecting anything from you, Erz. Say the word, and when we wake up in the morning, we can act like this never happened.” 

“I…” Erza helplessly shook her head. She’d never been good at understanding or confronting her own emotions. It was hard, and quite frankly, she didn’t see the point most of the time. Especially when it came to love. There were so many different types of love, nearly impossible to differentiate between them at times, so why bother? She knew she would always have Gray by her side, so she’d never felt the need to consider if that love she felt for him was romantic or platonic. 

But look at him now, so many emotions on his face, in his eyes, Erza found… 

That she kind of wanted to kiss him. 

“What if I said I loved you, too?” she asked. 

Gray was silent for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face, before his eyes lit up, and he smiled. “R-Really?” 

“I… you know me, Gray,” she said. “I just never think about… Gods, if you had told me years ago, maybe I would have realized it myself.” 

“You’re hopeless!” he exclaimed. 

“Never mind, maybe I’m not interested,” she teased as she turned her gaze back to the ocean. 

“Wait, no!” He pressed closer. “I take it back!” 

Lightly, she cuffed the back of his head. “Better go tell your dragon boyfriend that he’s got to share,” she said. 

“Ah… About that…” 

Erza’s smile melted into a frown. “What?” 

“Erza!” Natsu bounded towards her, that contagious grin on his face. “You’re gonna court Gray, too?” He grabbed her hands and leaned over to lick her cheek. “What about me?” 

“What about you?” she asked with a laugh, wiping at her cheek. They were going to have to make sure Natsu didn’t do that to anyone else. At least without a warning. “We can both have him. And were you just  _ listening _ to us?” 

“Gray said he was gonna tell you first!” he said. 

“What?” Her eyebrows pinched together. “What do you mean, tell me fir— Oh.” One hand drifted up to her cheek, and the other to Natsu’s knife. “You…” 

“Dragons give the ones they want to court gifts,” he said. “But then Wendy told me you two probably didn’t know that, so I needed to explain.” 

Quickly, her gaze shot to Gray’s necklace, and he gave her a subtle nod. 

Natsu pulled her even closer. “So what about me?” 

Erza wondered if this was some kind of revenge for not realizing she had loved Gray for so long. The universe or the gods or  _ someone _ had decided that if she didn’t realize her love for one person, they’d give her two and maybe she’d notice. “Yes, Natsu.” She wrapped him in a hug. “I’d love that.” 

Natsu purred, and rubbed his face in the crook of her neck. 

“Gray, come here.” Erza reached out with one hand and yanked him into the hug. 

He let out a little  _ oof _ as he collided with them, but hummed in contentment as soon and Erza and Natsu both held him close. 

Quite honestly, Erza could have stood there all night like that, but then Gray muttered, “So who’s going to tell Mira so she doesn’t try to kill us all for cheating?” 

“I’ll tell her as soon as you tell Lyon and Ultear,” she said. 

“Oh gods…” he moaned. 

Natsu squirmed out of their grasp and headed back towards the main part of the deck, where everyone else was waiting. “I’ll tell them!” 

“Wait, Natsu!” Gray chased after him. 

“Natsu, that’s not— Not right this second!” Erza exclaimed.  _ “Natsu!”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you go! Like I said before, there will be a sequel coming up! As of now, I'll get it started and post it after I finish up my erzajane fic, so there'll be a bit of a wait, but hopefully not too long. 
> 
> Thank you to anyone who's read this, and especially if you've ever left a nice comment, they always brighten things up for me :D 
> 
> See you in the second part!


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